


Birds of a Feather

by Torvalvt



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adults, College, Domestic, Multi, Polyamory, Roommates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2018-08-24 09:50:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8367799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Torvalvt/pseuds/Torvalvt
Summary: Its the end of highschool, and Adrien, Marinette, Nino, and Alya decide to find apartments near each other. What follows is already great friends becoming even closer and learning how to love each other through the simplest everyday actions.





	1. Looking around

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Planning your future can be hard. But thats what friends are for.

“Nino, what are we going to do after school?” Adrien asked from the couch.

  
They were at Nino’s house playing Mario Kart, a favorite pastime of the dou in recent years. Nino looked up from the floor where he was sitting and shot his friend a quizzical look. After a moment's pause, he replied, “You know, I don’t think I have thought at all about that dude. Why do you ask.”   
  
Adrien turned back to the game and gave a small shrug. “I was thinking about it the other day, and I guess I was, uh, wondering if you had any plans for after school.”   
  
This was something that they had touched on before. But most of their talks centered around how done they were with school and how cool real life as an adult must be. They never exactly got around to talking about what they would do in real life though.   
  
Nino gave a thoughtful hum as he thought about it. “I guess I was thinking of trying to find a job as a DJ, you know that thing I always talk about and dedicate most of my time to?” Adrien rolled his eyes as Nino continued, “I guess I have not thought that far past that though dude. I’m not exactly the poster child for thinking ahead.”   
  
They lapsed back into silence for a moment before Adrien broke it again. “Have you thought about, I don’t know, where you are going to live? Or if you are going to move out at all?” He threw out with an air of forced casualty.   
  
“Dude, I just told you the extent of my plans after school,” Nino replied as he ran Adrien’s kart off the track. “Step one, become an amazing DJ. Step two, unknown. Step three, profit. I have given zero thought to where I would live.”   
  
On the screen Adrien repaid his friends betrayal with a blue shell. He cheered as we was able to race past at the last moment and secure victory. With victory in hand he turned and said, “Well, in that case, want to maybe move in with me?”   
  
At this remark Nino's head whipped around to look at his friend. “Bro.” He said in an awed voice, “I would love to live in that mansion you call a house with you.” Then he gave his friend a quizzical look. “But what about papa Agreste? I doubt he would be okay with me living there as well.” Over the last few years Nino had been able to gain some respect from the cold father. It had been a long hard road for him, and he was not about to put that in jeopardy.    
  
Rubbing the back of his neck Adrien broke eye contact and gave a strained chuckle. “Yeah, about that. I was thinking of maybe, um, moving out? And living on my own? I like the mansion, but it's not exactly somewhere I want to spend any more time living in.”   
  
Now this was news to Nino. As long as he had known Adrien the boy had seemed to be comfortable with living in the mansion. So on the one hand, that meant no high life for Nino. But on the other, it was Adrien taking another step out from under his oppressive father's wing. And when it came down to it, he was happy that Adrien was even asking him about something as big as this. Nodding Nino replied, “Hey man, that sounds like a sound choice. Hell yeah I would move in with you! Gotta stick with my best bro, am I right?”   
  
Adrien let out a relieved breath that he had been holding. “Oh thank goodness, I was kind of worried you had plans already.”   
  
Nino laughed and turned back to the game. “Like I said dude, no plans other than becoming the best DJ ever. Who else do you think I would live with, Max?”   
  
All Adrien could do to reply as he focused on the game was to mumble, “I don’t know man, I don’t know.”   
  
———   
  
  
“So then I asked him before kicking his butt at the game, ‘who else do you think I would live with, Max?’” Nino replayed for Marinette.   
  
They were sitting at their favorite coffee shop, waiting for Alya and Adrien. Adrien was finishing up his piano lesson, and Alya was working on the school yearbook. So that left Marinette and Nino to chat while they waited.   
  
Marinette grinned as she sipped her drink, rolling her eyes at how silly both of her friends were. Even after years of being around the boys, Marinette could not believe how goofy they could be. It was always funny to hear one of them boast about something little like winning at Mario Kart. Just another perk of getting to know them as friends. “Sounds like you told him,” she giggled.   
  
“You bet I did,” He proclaimed from across the table. “I'm actually kind of glad he brought it up, that's kind of something important to think about.”   
  
Marinette hummed and said, “You’re right, it is an important thing to think about.”   
  
“So have you thought about what you are going to do at all after school?” Nino asked. He thought he knew the answer, that Marinette and Alya would be living together of course. He hoped that for once, the boys had thought of an important life milestone first.   
  
It took a few seconds for Marinette to think about her answer. “Not especially, but I guess I kind of thought Alya and I would move in together? It kind of seems like the logical next step,” she admitted. “Now that you mention it, that might be a conversation I should have with her. I would hate to expect something like that and then get let down.”   
  
Nino scoffed and took a bit out of his scone. “What, make sure Alya does not go cavorting off and room with another girl in our class? I don’t think you have any competition in that department.”   
  
“You never know, she has gotten closer to Chloe in the last year,” Marinette said with a giggle. Why, only yesterday had her friend had gone a long winded rant to the both of them about how insufferable that girl could be.   
  
After that the subject changed and they continued to chat, but Marinette made a mental note to bring it up to Alya next time she could.   
  
———   
  
“And I was about done with my in class paper, when all of a sudden I catch that witch of a girl looking at my paper! Can you believe it? Four years of school together and I would have thought her morals would have become more sound. So then I was like…hey Marinette, are you still listening?”

  
The remark caused Marinette to snap out of her own thoughts and directed her attention back to her friend. “I'm sorry Alya, I guess I was zoning out again,” she apologized with a small smile. Alya rolled her eyes and adjusted herself on the end of Marinette’s bed. They were having an end of the week sleepover, a tradition of their for the last couple years. And this was the part where they complained to each other about various things. Like Chloe. Always Chloe.   
  
“Girl, you have been doing that all night,” Alya sighed with fake exasperation. Since becoming friends with Marinette she had learned two things. One, she was an incredible person. And two, that she often times got stuck in her own thoughts. “Is there something on your mind that you wish to share with the class?” Alya prodder further.   
  
In fact, there was something on Marinette’s mind. For the last two days she had been thinking over what Nino had said about moving in with Adrien after school was over. To be fair, a decent part of that time was spent fantasizing about what it would be like to live with Adrien. But the whole “living with your best friend” concept had caught her attention even more.   
  
Once school was over, Marinette had a pretty good idea of what she wanted to do with her life. Get her foot in the fashion industry, either through school or through work. At the moment she had a nice college offer lined up, but one thing she had not thought about was where she was going to live. And then Nino came along and dropped the perfect idea in her lap.   
  
Why not find a place with Alya?   
  
She was surprised she had not thought of it sooner. The big reason was that she was not quite sure what Alya was going to do after school herself. But maybe, just maybe if she were to stay in Paris with Marinette, they could find a place together. And that would make Marinette’s day.   
  
Well, now was as good a time as any to broach the subject. “Have you thought about what you are going to do after school Alya?” Marinette asked.

  
There was a glint in Alya’s eye as her smile widened and she answered, “Why but what else? To become a world renowned reporter!” She struck a pose that elicited a laugh from Marinette as she continued. “I will venture the globe, looking for the best stories humanity has to offer! Nothing can stop my inquisitive mind, except for the occasional fair young maiden.” At this suggestion she slid over to Marinette and wiggling her eyebrows.   
  
Deciding to play the part, Marinette turned and draped herself over her friend. “My, what a handsome reporter I have found! Please, tell me of your daring adventures and harrowing stories,” She crooned.   
  
The girls broke into laughter as Marinette shimmied up against Alya. Once they had settled down Alya ran her hands through Marinette’s hair as she thought about it harder. “You know, other than trying to get a job as a journalist, I really have no idea at what I want to do after school. Why, is there something you wanted to do?”   
  
Marinette hummed beneath her friend’s fingers. “Well I got to thinking the other day about where I was going to live after school. I had been thinking of staying with my parents for a while longer, but a thought struck me. About how it might be nice to go off and get my own place.   
  
“Oh yeah? You gotta make sure you invite me over all the time when you do,” Alya hummed.   
  
“Wait, I was not quite done,” Marinette interjected. “I was thinking it would be nice to get my own place, but it would be even better if I had a friend room with me as well.” A small smile crept across her face as she felt Alya’s finger’s slow their pace. Marinette could feel the gears turning in her friend's head as she took in the information.   
  
It took Alya a second before she resumed her routine. “So are you looking for applicants? I have my resumé on my computer is you want to take a look at it,” She replied calmly. Or as calmly as she could. After so many years friendship Marinette could hear the underlying excitement in Alya’s voice.   
  
“Well seeing as you are the only application I'm interested in seeing, I say you got the position,” Marinette chirped. And then, more timidly, “As long as you want to room with me in the first place.”   
  
The hands on her head shot to her shoulders, and Alya spun her around to face her. A big grin shone on her face. “Girl, are you kidding? Of course I want to! It's not like I don’t already live with you on the weekends.”   
  
Relief spread through Marinette. It was the answer she had been expecting, but she had still been a bit worried Alya would already have other plans. Cheering she embraced her friend. “Awesome! I already have some ideas about decorating, and what the living room could look like, and, and, Im just so excited for this!”   
  
With renewed fervor the two friends got busy. Now that they had a new dream together, they had a lot to talk about.   
  
———   
  
It was more unusual for Adrien and Alya to hang out, and yet here they were at the park together having a picnic.   
  
This had actually become a more regular occurrence in the last few months. It had all began one day when the four friends were hanging out together before one of Adrien’s photo shoots. He was just about getting ready to leave when an audible grumble came from his stomach. He had tried to brush it off, saying things like “it comes with being a model” and “I had a full breakfast, I promise!” but the other three did not believe him one bit.   
  
Once Adrien was gone, Alya Nino and Marinette quickly came up with a plan to feed their starving friend. They rushed to the bakery and around town for some other choice foods, looking for only the best. Then the friends gathered up their impromptu picnic and waited outside where Adrien was modeling. Needless to say the blonde boy was delighted almost to the point of tears when they showed up with the feast.   
Ever since the three tried their best to get together with Adrien after longer photo shoots and feed him. Most days Nino would meet up with his best friend, but sometimes they would pair up to deliver the goods. This time Alya was the only one who was able to make it, but she was not complaining. Marinette had given her a basket piled high with pastries and fruits this afternoon. Smelling the assortment of foods had made Alya’s mouth water the whole way to meet Adrien.   
  
As always Adrien was thrilled to see one of his friends and to get some food out of it. “Thank you again for bringing me all this food,” He said for the third time that day.   
  
Alya shot him a warning look and pointed at him with the pastry she was holding. “If you say that one more time mr model I will take this all back and eat it myself. Ill do it, I’m crazy!”   
  
His response was a happy laugh before he mimed zipping up his lips and throwing away the key. With a satisfied nod Alya turned back to her own food, but it did not take long before she was chatting away again. “So you would never believe what happened between Marinette and I yesterday,” she started.   
  
Before Adrien could come up with a response Alya continued to plow ahead. “She asked me if I wanted to move into an apartment with her after school. Isn’t that just one of the best idea’s you have ever heard?”   
  
“Well as a matter of fact, it is right up there,” Adrien said with a grin. He placed his hand on his chest and proclaimed, “For you see, I made the same proposition to Nino just the other week!”   
  
At first Alya was surprised. Usually Marinette was the one to come up with the original plans in the group. Then she smiled as her own plan started forming in her mind. “Oh Yeah? That is quite the coincidence,” she smirked as she continued to eat and think.   
  
Adrien nodded along. “I was thinking, as usual, about how nice it would be to be able to get out of my house, and then it hit me. Once I was done with school, I could finally move out! And really who better to move out with than my best bro?”   
  
“I am sure the dork was over enthused with the plan,” Alya snorted. Then another thought struck her. “Have you talked to your dad yet about this plan of yours,” She asked.   
  
Adrien’s chewing slowed down before it came to a thought as the realization dawned on him. “Oh, I guess not yet,” he mumbled.   
  
It could be said that Gabriel Agreste was a cold, heartless father. Yet it was not out of the realm of possibility that he would want Adrien to stay with him for a while longer. In the past year there had been no talk between the father and son about after school plans, including moving out.   
  
Alya gave the boy a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. “That might be a good idea before you go galavanting off with your best friend into the sunset. Im sure the old man would have some thoughts on the matter,” She advised.   
  
“Yeah, I guess you are right,” Adrien admitted. He went back to chowing down on his snacks, thinking about how he might approach his father about this dilemma.   
  
Now that she had thrown the mood down the toilet, Alya decided to try and make it better. Poking him in the shoulder she asked, “So have you at least looked at places where you two can live?”   
  
Adrien smiled sheepishly and shook his head. “I'm not an expert on looking for apartments to start off. And Nino and I have not had time to get together to look since school is wrapping up,” He admitted. “We were actually thinking of looking over the weekend.”   
  
And there was the opening Alya was looking for. “You know, Marinette and I have not found a place yet either,” she disclosed. “Is there any way the four of us might be able to look together?”   
  
At the suggestion Adrien lit up. “Yeah! That would be a great idea! I don’t know about you, but I feel like the more people we have looking the better. Who knows what a single person could miss.”   
  
Alya laughed and pulled out her phone to message Marinette and Nino about the proposal. “I agree. Well then then lets meet up this weekend to look for places to live. Its a date.”   
  
\-------   
  
It was needless to say, Marinette was freaking out just a tad bit.   
  
She had tried her damnedest to get over her nerves around Adrien, but sometimes there is just no getting around an active imagination. It happened s soon as Alya had texted her saying that the squad was all going to look at apartments together. At the mention her imagination threw itself into high gear and had yet to come down from it.   
  
She had been friends with that actual ray of sunshine boy for a while, so she thought she knew what he liked. But what if he for some reason did not like the selection of apartments they were looking at? She knew he was humble, but what if he was disappointed because the apartments were to shabby? Then he would take Nino to live in a big mansion in the countryside and they would never see each other ever again because the boys would be too busy riding horses and playing polo.   
  
Okay, that might be a bit overboard, She thought to herself as she texted back to Alya. I am sure that Adrien will at least stay in the city if he wants to ignore me and my crappy apartment.   
  
In the end Marinette managed to stow the worst of her fears away to meet up with her friends. To be fair, she was much better than a few years ago when they had all started hanging out. At least now she could hold regular conversations with Adrien. Although she still found it hard to be alone with him for more than half an hour on a good day. But she was friends with him now! They would text sometimes and there were always the group study sessions that they would hold. There was even that one time they had a sleepover at Alya’s house in their last year of school. All in all Marinette liked to think that she had made some impressive headway in getting over her nerves.   
  
Yet, there was still that ever present crush that was hanging over her head. Sometimes Marinette thought that maybe this was the day she was over that golden boy and they could just be regular friends. Until he would do something that would make that crush march right back into her heart. There was the one time he brought chocolate to class for his three best friends and blushed when he gave it to her. Or when they went down to the beach and Marinette could not help staring at how muscular his back was. Even little things, like when he was snort after hearing a good joke. Or how enamored he was in whatever movie they were watching. That boy would just not let her get over him.   
  
When she arrived at the first location, both Alya and Adrien were already there looking around. As soon as she walked in the room both of them turned their heads. “Hey there! Look who decided to show up,” Alya said as she walked over to her friend. Across the room Adrien gave her a smile and a small wave, a gesture she was more that happy to return.   
  
“Girl, I am so pumped for today!” Alya exclaimed as she showed Marinette the list of places they were going to tour.   
  
“So remind me, why are we looking for a place with the boys?” Marinette said as she surveyed the room they were in. She turned to the only boy represented in the room and clarified herself, “Not that I don’t want to Adrien. It's just that you were a little vague about it over texts.”   
  
Alya turned and steered Marinette over to where Adrien was standing in the middle of the living room. “Well, I heard from a little blonde birdie that the boys were also looking for a place. And I, being incredibly smart. figured that we could all look together!” Then Alya added, “Plus, I was thinking that maybe we would be able to all find a place close to each other.”   
  
Next to her Adrien’s eyes lit up while Marinette’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. “Thats a great idea Alya!” Adrien exclaimed. “Man, I can’t believe that I did not even think about that.”   
  
It was Marinette’s turn to get herself together and break out into a grin. “I agree! I know Nino had mentioned moving in with Adrien, but I had not even thought of us living close to each other.,” She praised her friend. In her head she was giving a slow clap for Alya to manage to keep the group together after school. If anyone could do it, it would be Alya.   
  
Extracting herself from Alya’s grip on her arm, Marinette looked around the place they were in. Her initial impression had consisted of there being a literal model and that her best friend in the room. But now that she looked at it she found that those were the best features of the place.   
  
The walls of the room were a dull grey and the shag carpeting was a questionable brown color. Who knows what spills had been absorbed and forgotten on that ugly surface?  There was a tiny kitchen that was only separated by an incredibly worn counter. The kitchen area itself was pine green. Every part. Nothing had been spared from the forest treatment, not even the microwave.   
  
This place was in no way Marinette's taste. But she was polite kind of person. Turning to her friends she inquired, “So, what do you guys think of this place?”   
  
Her friends exchanged a look before Alya started to open her mouth. She was interrupted by Nino bursting through the door. “Oh man, I hope I’m not to late guys,” he huffed as hustled in.   
  
It looked like he was about to say something else before he stopped. He did a quick take of the room around him, and then frowned at his friends. “I thought we were going to look at nice places and not dumps like this,” he said in confusion.   
  
Alya huffed. "I was about to say that before you oh so graciously bust in. Adrien and I had just been totally bad mouthing the place before you got here Marinette.”   
  
An amused chuckle came from Adrien. “One of my first comments were about the forest in the kitchen,” Adrien said with a smirk.   
  
Marinette let out a sigh of relief and said, “Thank goodness you guys hated it to. If any of you had liked it I would have stopped being friends with you in this ugly room.”   
  
Nino clapped his hands together and motioned to the door. “Well, that was quick and easy. Should we bust this waffle stand and check out the next one?”   
  
————   
  
“I have never been so disappointed in people's decorating choices before,” Marinette huffed. Her three friends nodded as they slogged to their last apartment of the day. With every apartment so far being a strikeout, the team moral was at a low for the day.   
  
“Can you believe that someone thought it would be a good idea to put clown wallpaper in every room of the duplex?” Adrien lamented. His companions groaned at the thought of that cursed property.   
  
Alya held up her hand and added, “What about the one place where the walls were painted the color of blood? The paint even looked all thick and gross. Who does that?”   
  
“I just can’t believe that we failed at finding any good places that we could all live,” Nino fumed. “When I signed on to look for a new place, I did not ask to be led on a tour of the worst apartments in Paris.”   
  
Alya gave him a withering look. “Listen bud, I am trying my best at finding a variety of places to live. If you have a problem with my selection you can just go and-“   
  
“Oh, look, here we are!” Adrien interjected as he hurried forward to the building in question.   
  
Marinette looked at the complex that spanned a good part of the street. It was quite bland, but with the price range their group was trying to work with she had been expecting that. The one promising thing she could pick out were the balconies that lined the outside of the building. Other than that, it looked like it might be another dead end.   
  
As they found out from the landlord who showed them the two potential apartments, each one was almost identical. This was a welcome departure from the more solo, avant garde places they had been looking at so far. And identical living places also meant that there were no real surprises in store for them. Each place was simply a two bedroom apartment with a single bathroom. There was a small kitchen area with a counter dividing it from the living room, which was where the door from the hall led into. To Marinette’s delight there was a balcony off of the living room, a welcome feature that made her think of her own balcony above the bakery.   
  
When the group had finished scoping the place out, they put their heads together and rated the place.   
  
“Nine out of ten, its nice but it could use some spice” Alya said.   
  
“Eight out of ten. I like the simplicity but I am slightly worried about the amount of space,” Adrien replied.   
  
Nino scoffed and rolled his eyes, “You guys are playing, ten out of ten.”   
  
Next to him Marinette nodded vigorously. “I agree, this place is definitely a ten out of ten. Compared to every other place we looked at today? By far the winner.”   
  
A grin split Alya’s face as she looked around at her friends. “Looks like we have ourselves a new place to live. This is by far the best place we have seen all day.”   
  
When Alya left to talk to the landlord, Adrien slid his arms around Nino and Marinette’s shoulders and drew them close again. This was something that Adrien did all the time, he seemed to have a thing for shoulders. Even so, Marinette could not help but freak out a tad bit every time it happened. “So friends, how about I treat you to a nice dinner in celebration of our monumental adult achievement?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows comically.   
  
Across from each other Marinette and Nino exchanged a defeated look. Adrien was always trying to pay for dinner and take them to nice places. For the most part they managed to avoid it in order not take advantage of their rich buddy. But on special occasions, like now, they were more likely to agree. And Adrien “loves to lavish his friends” Agreste knew that those times were the best time to strike. And so agreed they did, even if it was with reluctance.   
  
An hour later they all arrived at one of the nicer restaurants that Adrien liked to treat his friends to. Adrien had wanted to go right away after the deal was finalized, the kid was always starving. But they others had convinced him to wait a while so they could properly get ready for a proper dinner.   
  
As usual Marinette did not let the moment pass to dress up nice for her blonde crush. She had a range of dresses set aside for such occasions in her closet, and she pulled out her favorite one with the ladybug spots on it. For some reason that always caught his eye. When she arrived she was glad she had pulled it out. As soon as he saw her, Adrien’s eyes immediately widened and a blush spread across his face when she arrived.   
  
Her friends were just as dashing as ever. Both boys were sporting buttoned up shirts with the sleeves rolled up in the late spring heat, and Alya had opted for a plum colored dress. Marinette had to stop and admire what a stunning group of young adults they were. Simply fabulous.   
  
“Are you ready to get the whole Agreste treatment?” Adrien said proudly, brandishing his father’s card.   
  
The only response he got were three identical eye rolls as his friends shook their heads at his antics. At first he had declined to flaunt his wealth. But once Adrien got an allowance, he made a point to spend it almost exclusively on his three friends. At this point they were quite used to his showmanship.   
  
“Lets just get a table already bro, all that walking really worked up an appetite,” Nino said.   
  
They ended up getting their favorite spot at the back of the restaurant, a cozy table in the corner away from the other patrons. As the first appetizer was set on the table the quartet took time to talk about the upcoming weeks.   
  
“Can you believe that we are almost done with school?” Marinette said as the boys across from her dug into the appetizer. “Three years after meeting each other and we are moving on to that next step.”   
  
“Next thing you know we will all be getting married and having kids and stuff.” Alya chimed in nonchalantly. Her three friends all gave her a somewhat terrified expression. “Relax, I was just joking,” She sighed, rolling her eyes. Even so, there was a slight sigh of relief that came from the others.   
  
“Don’t scare me with thoughts like that girl. I can only handle one adult thing at a time,” Nino said through a salad he was trying to devour.   
  
between bites of his own meal Adrien looked over the contract the two groups had signed. He and Nino would share one apartment while Marinette and Alya would share the one across the hall from them. “It says here we can not have any animals except for an animal that can be in a tank. I don’t think that should be a problem for the time being.”   
  
“Anything in the fine print I missed?” Alya asked. “I started reading it over in depth, but got bored halfway through and just assumed it was all good.”   
  
Adrien shook his head. “Not that I can tell.” He set the contract down to continue with his meal. “Then again, I have no clue what to look for or what I am doing, so there is that.”   
  
Marinette took the paper from him and placed it in her purse. “Well if anything comes up I’m sure we can all deal with it. In the meantime, has anyone studied for that math test on Wednesday?”   



	2. Moving In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very generic move for extraordinary people.

Moving was the hardest thing Adrien had ever done. And this was coming from one of the saviors or Paris no less.

The first big hurdle he had was to gather what he needed from his room in his father’s mansion. At first he thought that he might only need a few things. And then Nino helped him shift through his clothes and belongings. Soon he found that there were just some things he was loathe to let go. It took some firm negotiating from Nino, but he managed to whittle down his belongings to only half a dozen boxes of things in the end.

“Don’t worry dude, all this stuff will still be here once you leave. Positive,” Nino tried to reassure him as they loaded up the moving van Adrien had rented for the day. “It’s not like your dad would just throw out all the things in your room once you are gone.” Nino continued.

Nino proved to be almost as hard to pack for. Although his room was quite a bit smaller than Adrien’s, he had managed to jam quite a bit into it over the years.

“At least we know all your stuff will fit in the new place,” Adrien said, looking around the cramped room. Nino was sorting through a giant pile of his various CD’s to bring with. They sprawled across his bed, the only free space left in the room. The rest of the room was filled with either piles of cloths or sound equipment. “Your new room is almost an upgrade, and that’s saying something.”

“Whatever man. I like having a smaller space anyways,” Nino said, brushing off his friend’s comments. “Anyways, this is a chance for a new start. Fewer material things, only what I need.”

It took three long hours of packing, unpacking, arguing, and packing again to get it all in the truck. “Remind me never to try and clean out your room again,” Adrien moaned as he got in the front seat of the truck. The other boy simply shot him a withering glare before they were off to their new apartment.

If Adrien had thought packing was difficult, he was nowhere near ready for the unpacking. The guys decided to move before the girls, so it was just them moving the various heavy boxes up the three flights of stairs to the apartment.

And then came the furniture. On the way Nino had made them stop to pick up a grey old couch that was abandoned on the side of the road. “It’s free! What more could we ask for?” Nino explained against the sounds of Adrien protesting. In the end they took it on the promise that if anything happened because of it, it was all Nino’s fault. Besides the couch they had a small card table and a few plastic chairs Nino had bought after one of his gigs. The table and chairs were a piece of cake, a simple task to carry up. But trying to maneuver the couch up three flights of stairs was torture to Adrien.

“I swear, when we leave we are just tossing this thing out the window,” Adrien grunted. His voice strained from the bottom of the sofa as he tried to lift it up the second set of stairs. “There is no way it is moving once I set this thing down. It can rot in hell for all I care.”

“You will thank me later when we have people over,” Nino replied from the top of the couch. He continued, “In the meantime let's focus on the little things. Like how we are halfway there! Yay us!”

Between Nino’s cheering and Adrien’s fair share of upper body strength they wrangled the couch into their flat. They set it up in the middle of their sparse living room. It faced the small television that Nino had brought with him, a small but cozy entertainment area. Exhausted they sank into the grey monstrosity of a couch. After a moment of silence Adrien said, “I really hope the girls do not bring anything as heavy as this. You know they would make us help them.”

Next to him Nino groaned. “Damn, I think we will. I remember Alya talking about how she had managed to get her hands on a few armchairs or something.” At the news an identical groan escaped Adrien. He just had to open his mouth about it.

The sun was setting on the other side of the building when the boys finished moving in. The only thing remaining to unpack were the boxes in the boys rooms, so they parted ways to finish up. As soon as Adrien was in his room he opened up his duffle bag and let Plagg fly out from his confines. “Phew! I was wondering when you would finish,” his kwami said as he scouted the room out.

Adrien rolled his eyes before he started unpacking his things. “Yeah yeah, it took a while. Im so sorry you had to wait so long,” he grumbled.

“Oh it was horrible!” Plagg continued melodramatically. He swished around the room looking at the sparse furniture as he continued to complain. “All I had to do was to nap for hours on end while I waited for you! You truly subject me to a miserable life.”

Instead of answering Adrien continued unpack his life. He had never quite realized how much he liked his stuff before he had to choose what he liked to most and pack it away. There were his first fencing trophies, a personal source of pride he could indulge in. He had all the books that he cherished and kept close at hand. And of course the numerous pictures he had taken with his three best friends over the last four years. He smiled to himself as he put the framed pictures on his small desk. So many miraculous memories he had with them.

“Ogling those sappy pictures again?” Plagg drawled from the top of the new dresser Adrien had bought for his room. Adrien rolled his eyes as he set the last picture down. Plagg had given Adrien grief ever since he had first started displaying the pictures in his room. No doubt he was sure to continue giving it. “I thought you would have left those behind. You are going to be seeing them every day now,” Plagg continued.

“As I keep trying to tell you, I treasure these memories,” Adrien sighed. He looked around at the things he had in various stages of unpacking, surprised at the mess he had already made. So this was what it was like to live without a maid. Even with fewer things there was not as many places to put them, and it was getting quite cluttered.

So far he had only gotten only the small novel things unpacked. In his haste to get things out of the boxes he had books, cloths and decorations for his room strewn everywhere. He looked guiltily at the pictures on his desk, so far the only thing in their place. “Okay, maybe I should have save the memories for later,” he sighed.

He was saved when he heard a light rap on his door. Perking up Adrien opened it up to see Nino standing there. His friend smiled and said, “Yo! You wanna go get a bite to eat? All this moving around leaves a dude starving.”

Adrien smiled wide and patted his friend on the should. “You have no idea how good that sounds. Let's go, I am famished.”

The walk there was quite delightful, until Nino asked, “So who is Plagg? You seemed to be having quite the conversation with them.”

It took everything Adrien had not to stop walking in shock. All his life he had lived in a large, soundproof room. Never had he thought that someone would be able to hear his conversations with his Kwami. Well, time for more lies about being a superhero. “Oh, they were a, uh, friend,” he stuttered out. “I met them at, well, a camp I guess? A year ago? Yeah, a year ago. We like to talk on the, ah, phone. Yes! The phone. I was on the phone.”

Adrien could feel his heart pounding as Nino patted him on the back. “It's all good my dude, sometimes you gotta just ring someone up and have a good old conversation. You gotta tell me more about them over dinner, I had no idea you had other friends,” he said, laughing.

Adrien made a mental note to avoid talking about Plagg as much as possible over dinner.

——————

Marinette took comfort in the fact that her parents were going to keep her old room however she left it. This meant she only needed to take the most essential things from her room. She had decided to leave most of her old experimental designs that were just taking up room. That way she could take only what she would need to wear for school. The decorations came down leaving the walls bare, then went back up. It was time for a fresh start she decided, and that meant a fresh decorating start as well. She only took the sewing supplies she needed for now. She could always come back and bring in more things if she needed them.

She wiped the sweat off of her forehead as she surveyed the boxes that she had managed to pack. Tikki flitted over and looked them over with her. “Here is my new life, packed into a few neat boxes,” Marinette said.

“It looks like you are all ready to live a slimmer lifestyle,” Tikki commented from her perch on Marinette’s shoulder. “I am surprised I did not even have you talk you out of the second sewing machine.”

Marinette rolled her eyes and sat down on her rolling chair. “Really, it was not that hard. Im ready to move on, and that means just not having as many things with me. I can build up all my things all over again! And if I need something I can come back and take it.”

They shared the bit of calm before Tikki nuzzled against Marinette affectionately. “I am proud of you for taking this next step! You are doing a great job so far Marinette.” Marinette laughed and returned the gesture by rubbing the top of Tikki’s head just how she liked.

Soon after Alya came by with the moving truck. When Marinette brought her stuff down, she was surprised to see how much stuff Alya had already in the back. “I got everything a good place need back here. Kitchen stuff, places to sit, entertainment. You name it, I got it,” Alya said when Marinette questioned her about it. “Plus,” she said with a devious grin, “we can afford to bring a bunch of stuff. The boys are going to help us.”

Marinette shot her friend a questioning look. “Really? I don’t remember either of us asking them about it.”

Her friend shot her another devious smile and replied, “I never did, but when did those two ever turn us down?”

True to her word, the boys were ready to help after the girls knocked on their door. “A little more warning would have been nice,” Adrien grumbled as he started grabbing a box from the van.

“Less complaining, more working,” Marinette instructed cheekily. In the last year she and Alya had found out that they boys would do about anything for them with enough prodding. They capitalized on it as much as possible, and took great pleasure in doing so. Marinette tried to rationalize bossing the boys around, especially Adrien. She thought of it as a way to get over the ideal pedestal she she placed him on when they first met. As for Nino, he could could learn to do some real work instead of just make music all day.

Marinette was especially glad to have the boys around when it came to the furniture. Both herself and Alya had dressers and desks to bring up. Next there was the armchairs Alya had found around town. For meals they had an old hand-me-down round table with some rickety chairs to place around it. Marinette had managed to save up and buy a small tv for the living room. The only problem was that they had run out of tables for it so it just had to sit on the floor for now.

It took the four of them less time than just the boys to move it, but it was still a strenuous process. Marinette was relieved when the last box was brought into the apartment. The four friends all breathed a great sigh of relief and plopped down into the living room furniture. “Its done, we are all here,” Adrien said with a sigh.

Nino grinned and said, “Looks like we are kinda stuck here together, huh.”

Alya laughed at the comment. “Listen, you all agreed to it. So no complaining right away. You have to wait a while to start that up.”

“You know, I have never lived with this many people before,” Adrien mused. “I wonder what it will be like? I mean, even if half of us are in a separate apartment altogether. How do you even run an apartment?”

This elicited a moan from Nino as he put his face in his hands. “Are you kidding me? I got stuck with the guy who has no clue how to live on his own?” He pointed an accusing finger at Adrien. “I was hoping you had picked some things up and I would be able to surf in your wake! Now you are telling me I have to be in front instead?”

“Oh please, like you know how to live on your own anyways,” Marinette admonished.

“And what, you do?” Nino shot back. When Marinette gave him a smug look, he became perplexed. “What? Is there some life tip you found out and did not share with the group?”

Marinette got up and rushed to her room. From the other room came the sounds of boxes opening and things moving around before she reappeared with a scrapbook in her hands. They all gathered around as she set it in the middle of their living room. In perfect lettering on the front it said “A Guide to Life.”

“I have been taking tips from my parents for the better part of the last year. I thought it might be a good idea to make a manual of sorts for myself out of them,” She exclaimed. She opened it up and riffled through the pages. “As you can see, there are all sorts of good things in here.”

From over her shoulder Adrien whistled. “Wow, that is a hundred times more prepared than I was. I think the only thing my father told me was that I should continue to eat healthy.”

“Aw, are you still going to be modeling?” Nino said with a grimace. When his friend nodded sadly Nino huffed and said, “You need to tell him that you need to start living your own life. Look at you! You are like a little over 60 kilos! You need to get some meat on your bones, and this was your chance.”

Adrien smiled softly and patted his friend on his shoulder. “Thanks for looking out for me, but its all right. I talked to him and we were able to work something more beneficial out for me. I will not be doing as many shoots, don’t worry.”

Nino returned his friend’s shoulder pat and shook his head. Both Alya and Marinette frowned at the revelation that their friend was still modeling. A year or two after they had all started being together more they had found out that Adrien did not like being a model. This had been somewhat of a blow to Marinette, who had always idolized him for being one. But it became clear that this was not a profession that made her friend happy. So the three friends had started a crusade to convince both Agrestes that Adrien should no longer model. They would try to drop hints to his dad that he was unhappy when they could. They also try to convince Adrien himself that he should force his father’s hand more to let him stop. But no matter how hard they tried, they had made little headway in the following year.

It was while they were looking through the comprehensive scrapbook that they heard it. Marinette’s stomach grumbled. It was a deep gurgle that started small and drew itself out to a great big sound. The other adults in the room all turned to give her exaggerated looks of shock and awe. She huffed and crossed her arms. “Listen, a girl can get hungry after moving things around as much as we did.”

Alya leaned over and closed the scrapbook with a thud. “It looks like I am going to have to break out the kitchen stuff already for our first ever home cooked meal,” She proclaimed.

Around her three pairs of eyes lit up. Alya had grown up around food all her life, and had hinted that she had been dabbling in the cooking arts for a while now. Their imaginations swirled at the the possible meal that could be coming. As she made her way to the small kitchen, the other three friends huddled together to whisper about what she could be making.

“She was talking about how her mom had just started teaching her soups the other day.” Marinette offered.

Adrien rubbed his chin as he thought. “I don’t know, it’s kind of warm out for soup. Maybe some salad?” he said hopefully, “I could really go for a nice light salad right now.”

Nino looked at him in confusion. “Are you kidding me? We have been moving things all day, I doubt she will make something as light as a salad. Maybe some pasta, like ravioli. I am craving a big plate of that right now.”

“If you came and helped you could find out what I am making in real time,” Alya smirked.

Just like moving, it was much quicker making dinner with so many hands. Alya had decided to go all out for their first dinner at the new place, and her friends were grateful to her for that. The small table was overflowing with pasta, bread, and salad. They even had a celebratory bottle of wine. “I am glad someone was thinking about the important things when it came to moving,” Adrien said, mouth watering.

“Well this is a special meal,” Alya said as she poured out the wine. “I want the first time eating with my friends away from home to be only the best.”

From across the table Marinette raised her glass, her friends quickly following suit. “Here’s to Alya and the wonderful meal she prepared for us,” She proposed. The boys repeated the line back with gusto.

“And here’s to living together!” Adrien offered. “To being even better friends in the future than we are now.”

“To the people I care about the most,” Nino offered with a big smile.

Next to him Alya chuckled and shook her head as she raised her glass. “Here’s to you guys, the biggest dorks I know. Would not trade you for anyone else.”

Laughter filled the room as they knocked their glasses against each other and took sips of the drink. The laughter continued through the rest of the dinner, loud, happy and full of warmth, as the four friends basked in being in each other’s company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much to the people who have commented and have given kudos so far! It is always nice to see those kinds of things. I have been out of the writing game for a while so it is very nice of y'all. I am finishing up my semester at college so hopefully next chapter will come quicker. Thank you again for reading!


	3. Adjustments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It can be a bit tricky to start living with other people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know I don't update very quickly. Sorry about that. I am in school at the moment, so I don't get as much time to write as I like. But I am glad that y'all still take the time to read my story! Thank you again.

Alya thought that living with one friend and near the other two would be simple and easy. They had known each other for years now, right? It should not be that hard to be around them all the time.

 

Time was quickly testing that theory.

 

The first little thing that got to her was trying to sync up with Marinette’s schedule. The mornings were really rough for Marinette. Alya had known this before moving in, but was confronted by the full reality of it the second day they were there.

 

The girls had decided to start their day off by visiting a local farmer’s market and getting some fresh food while they still had some money to spend. It closed in the early afternoon, so time was of the essence. Alya groggily rose from her bed and blinked a few times as she figured out her plan of action for the morning. This meant five solid minutes of sitting and thinking of nothing as her brain booted up.

 

Mornings are really not my thing, she thought to herself as she groped around for her shower supplies. As she dragged herself out of her room she knocked on Marinette’s door and yawned out, “Get up sleepy. We gotta be going if we want to make it.” Not making sure she got an answer she drudged down the hall to the shower and started her normal routine. 

 

Sure, the shower took longer than Alya was expecting. Sue me she thought to no one in particular as she continued to get ready. Once more she knocked on Marinette’s door as she went to her room. “Lets go! I’m almost ready, you should be too,” She yelled out. 

 

Refreshed she entered their living room and plopped down in an armchair, pulled out her phone, and waited for her roomie. She smiled at the thought that Marinette was her roommate now. How long had she dreamed about this? A pretty long time to be honest. Ever since they first met, Alya had day dreamed about getting to live with her cute best friend. Sharing the same space, cooking for each other, late night cuddles on the couch.

 

Digging her head out of the sappy thoughts she was entertaining, Alya focused on her phone. Those things would come in time she promised herself, but it was time to focus on the now instead. Speaking of the now. Alya looked up to see that Marinette’s door was still closed and that it was silent on the other side. Frowning, Alya got up and went back to the door. She pressed an ear to the wood. Nothing. She almost knocked on the door when images of Marinette at early morning classes flashed through her mind. Marinette dragging her feet to her seat. Marinette falling asleep in class. Marinette sprawled on the floor after a sleep over, passed out until one in the afternoon.

 

There was a good chance she was not awake yet.

 

Sighing, Alya gingerly opened the door. Marinette had not yet put up a curtain, so indirect sunlight poured into the room. And there was sleeping beauty, in all her glory. Marinette sprawled out on her bed face down, her mouth lolling open as her face pressed against the mattress. There was a puddle where she was drooling. The sheets were thrown off to one side and hung off the bed. Looks like she never got Alya’s messages.

 

Alya checked her phone to make sure that they were not going to be late. It looked like they might not have as much time as they want, but that was fine. As long as she succeeded in getting her roommate up. And that was a hit or miss task.

 

First she tried gentle shaking. “Marinette,” she crooned, “It’s time for us to get going. We wanted to go to the farmer’s market, remember?”

 

A quiet groan, then nothing. Well, lets try again Alya thought.

 

“Marinette, we gotta go,” Alya said with more force. She shook her friend roughly until Marinette let out a drawn out groan and swatted her friend away. She yawned wide and shuffled around the bed until she was looking up at Alya. Then she frowned.

 

“What are you doing in my room?” Marinette yawned.

 

Alya was still fuming half an hour later when Marinette was finally done getting ready. “I can’t believe that it actually took you that long to get going,” Alya huffed as they made their way downtown. They had to walk fast to get to the market on time.

 

All her friend offered was a shrug. “I guess that's the first thing you have learned about living with me,” Marinette said.

 

After the waking up incident, Alya paid more attention to Marinette’s at home habits. Turns out there were quite a few she had not known about.

 

The girl could eat. It was frankly a bit frightening. Alya had to ask for a bit more food money from her friend to compensate and stock up. Sometimes Marinette would come home from one of her late classes, scarf down her whole meal in two minutes flat, and ask for more. There were many times Alya would be sitting down and Marinette would come out of her room to grab a snack. And then she would be back out ten minutes later. And ten minutes after that. Those days Alya asked her if she wanted dinner early. The answer was always yes.

 

In addition, Marinette turned out to be quite the busy bee at night. Marinette was going to be attending college in the fall. She had started taking night classes here and there over the summer to prepare. Sometimes she would not come home until Alya was about to go to bed. She would also get into the zone late at night. One time as Alya went to bed Marinette was working on a project at their dining table. She came out halfway through the night to find that Marinette had taken over most of the living room. When Alya mentioned the time, Marinette had looked at the clock that showed “3:30” and said “Is it really that early?”

 

And last but not least were the phone calls. Marinette had explained early on that she had a long distance friend she liked to talk to on the phone. And oh boy, did they talk. Sometimes Alya could swear she could hear the friend in the room with Marinette. Must be the wonders of the modern age or something. But they would talk for hours sometimes about trivial things that were going on. Sometimes as Alya sat in her room and heard her friend laugh she would feel an uneasy churning in her stomach. Wasn’t she Marinette’s best friend already? Why was Marinette not talking to her about these things?

 

She always felt bad about that spark of jealousy latter. Especially when they would taking advantage of one of the perks of living together. Late night talks.

 

It had started the day after they had moved in. After a long day of settling in, they had settled around the kitchen table. Just the two of them. “Well this does not happen often,” Marinette mused as she stirred her tea. 

 

Alya barked out a laugh and said, “Yeah, the two of us talking late at night? Who would think of such a thing?”

 

Marinette shared in the laugh as her mind went back to the many nights they had talked over the phone together. If they could not meet in person the two of them would call each other to talk about their day’s and the like. Look like they no longer had to rack up the cell bills over their conversations.

 

“So what do you think so far of living on our own?” Marinette asked.

 

A great sound of relief came from the other girl as she reclined in her chair. “Oh god, its so amazing. Not having to worry about the kids at all, getting to have all this space to myself.” She winked slyly over the table. “Having you all to myself? Man, a girl could get used to this.”

 

Marinette let out a giggle and cradled her mug. “I am liking it as well.” She looked around the place again like she was still in shock that they were there. “It’s very different not waking up to the smells of fresh baked goods though.”

 

“What, you want me to bake for you every morning?” Alya replied, earning another laugh from her friend. “Listen, can do good on the cooking front, but baking? You test me girl.” 

 

“No no no, you are doing fine,” Marinette assured her. “Its almost a bit nice having this change of pace. You probably would not believe it but it can be nice not to smell that every morning. I would much rather wake up smelling a new house like today.” 

 

There was a brief bit of silence before Alya said with nonchalance, “So what do you think of living so close to the boys?”

 

And there it was. Marinette rolled her eyes and took a couple deep gulps of her tea before she replied. “I told you, I am really happy that we were able to move in with them, but not much beyond that,” She tried.

 

It looked like Alya would not let her off that easy. “Oh please, I know you still have a crush on blondie across the hall. And getting to live next to two of our best friends? How rad is that?”

 

After a couple years of needling from her friend, Marinette had managed to hide her emotions better about Adrien. Sure, that crush was still there. But she had set it aside to be a good friend in her high school years. “I really like having my friends across the hall, that is true,” she conceded, “and I think we are all going to have a great time here! I mean getting to strike out on our own together? Once in a lifetime opportunity. But as far as the crush is concerned? Not there. Gotta keep it down in this time of transition.” She folded her arms for emphasis, like the matter was closed. 

 

It was all Alya could do not to roll her eyes in exasperation. Instead she settled for a defeated sigh. “When are you just going to accept this whole feelings thing and act on them? You know he would totes go out with you if you asked.” When Marinette refused to answer Alya decided to change tactics. If feelings did not work, maybe sexiness would.

 

“Did you see those muscles he was sporting when we moved though?” she asked. She groaned and slid down in her seat. “Dear lord, that boy could bench press me no problem.”

 

Marinette gave her a pointed look and did not unfold her arms. “I know what you are trying to do,” she said slowly, “and it will not work.”

 

Oh, Alya had the high ground now. “But the way he filled out that t-shirt Mari?” she oozed, “You gotta admit he was something else. And that butt, goodness me.”

 

When Marinette’s cheeks started to color up, Alya knew she had won. “Okay, you got me there,” Marinette mumbled, and Alya gave a delighted shout of victory. “Listen, the crush is still not a thing, but how can you not appreciate a good butt?” she tried to argue. 

 

“So you are saying he has a good butt?” Alya asked.

 

“Oh god he has a great butt,” Marinette groaned. She slumped down with her head in against the table as her friend laughed across the table. “God, why does he have to be so damn handsome? I will never get over how he manages to look like he is modeling whatever he is wearing. It was a plain green t-shirt the other day for christ sakes! That’s not even fancy!”

 

Alya laughed as they continued talking. They fell into the pattern of conversation that they had established over the last few years. But this was different. As Alya watched Marinette gesture wildly around as she talked about a new design, Alya could not help but feel this was much better. It was better getting to see the look concentrated look on her friend's face. For them to be able to share tales and see the other person’s eyes light up at an important detail. It was magical. In this moment she forgot any thought that it would be hard to live with another person. In this moment all that mattered was each other.

 

————————————

 

The other side of the hall was facing some similar, unexpected problems.

 

Nino had been struggling a bit over the first week. In the last few years he had grown to be more self reliant and pick up everyday skills. How to do laundry. How to make an instant meal. Taking out the trash when it got full. The little things that help when a person is living on their own.

 

Not Adrien though.

 

Nino forgot just how privileged of an upbringing Adrien had sometimes. Now he was starting to realize just how bad it was. He would like to think that Adrien was doing alright for someone with no experience. This was disproven by many everyday things. Adrien burning his hands on the handles of boiling pot of water. Adrien losing his phone for twenty minutes because his cloths were already all over the room. Adrien slinking naked, dripping wet, out of the shower because he forgot his towel. And then finding out he had forgotten to buy towels.

 

“I guess we should go to the store again?” Nino sighed as Adrien stood before him in damp cloths. All his friend could do was nod with embarrassment.

 

“I’m sorry about this man,” Adrien said again as they walked back from the store, fresh towels in hand. “At least we are getting to know the cashier at the store better. They seem happy to see us each time at least,” he tried to reason.

 

“Nah bro, they are just trained to give good customer service,” Nino replied. “That poor girl must have seen your ugly mug half a dozen times today alone! I am surprised she did not leave at the sight of us coming back.”

 

They stopped at a light and Adrien gave Nino a pout. “It’s not my fault I am only now figuring out how to do things.” His expression shifted to a smirk as the crosswalk. “Besides, you seem to remember a thing or two when we visit. Don’t tell me you are perfect when it comes to living on your own.”

 

Nino rolled his eyes. “Can you blame me though? All your little mishaps make me think of something new we might need. Besides, I still have spending money for things I might need at the apartment. Might as well use it now, eh?”

 

When they got home, Nino took his new supplies to his room and sat down to come up with a plan. There was no way they could keep going on like this. Adrien was going to be in college a couple months, and if he went like this he might die. And Nino was totally not the kind of person to exaggerate.

 

In the upcoming months, Nino would help his friend start to live on his own. He pulled out his phone and wrote down “Operation Adrien Learning Basic Living Skills”. He jotted down a dozen ideas to work on before closing out. Nino may only have a fraction more idea what he was doing here, but he would teach Adrien everything about that fraction. Or so help him god.

 

Turns out, Adrien was thinking along the same lines. A few days after the girls had moved in Nino walked into the Kitchen to see Adrien and Alya cooking. To be honest, Nino was a little taken aback by the scene. Alya was standing behind Adrien, her arms wrapped around him so they could both hold onto a frying pan. She had to crane her head around her friend’s well defined shoulders to get a good look at what was in the pan. From the look of it, scrambled eggs. When Nino walked in his two friends looked over at him before looking at each other. 

 

“Hey there Nino, how you doing,” Alya said as she detangled herself from Adrien.

 

Before he could respond Adrien pivoted and displayed his pan with a wide smile. “Look at this! I asked Alya to teach me how to cook, and it’s working!”

 

Nino’s eyebrows shot up. “Is that so?” he said. He inspected the eggs and, from the looks of it, they were real eggs. “Man, that does look pretty good,” Nino admitted. 

 

“All thanks to my teaching,” Alya interjected with a smirk. She directed Adrien back over the stove as she said, “Otherwise you guys would just have a dozen broken eggs and no food.” At that comment Adrien seemed much more interested in his food than showing it off anymore. 

 

When Nino gave her a puzzled look, Alya chuckled as she pointed to the sink. There lay an empty egg carton and a dozen broken eggs. And what looked like a half dozen burnt attempts at making scrambled eggs. Nino’s eye’s widened in surprise before he groaned and ran to the fridge. He let out another groan when he opened it up and turned back to his friend. “Did you really waste all our eggs?” He moaned. Next to him Adrien rubbed the back of his head as he shuffled the scrambled eggs around.

 

“Maybe?” Adrien admitted sheepishly. “Don’t worry, I can buy us more,” he added as Nino let out a third groan.

 

It took him a moment, but Nino managed to compose himself and give Alya a pleading look. She chuckled to herself and grabbed the spatula from Adrien. “How about we dish these bad boys, invite Marinette over for dinner, and put off the mess for a while,” she offered. Adrien shot her a thankful look and nodded enthusiastically.

 

While they were eating Adrien apologized to Nino for the fourth time that meal. “I’m really sorry man I forgot you had bought those,” Adrien confessed when they were all done eating.

 

Across the table Nino waved him off. “It’s all good man. Just maybe next time take a bit more care to not waste the food we have?” Nino offered. “Besides, sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette.”

 

At that Alya’s eyes lit up. “Oh, maybe we could try omelettes next time!” She said excitedly.

 

Marinette giggled and said, “Is this going to be a new thing? Learning to cook with Alya?”

 

Next to her Adrien nodded vigorously. “Yes please, I want to learn as much as possible,” He said. His gaze turned wistful as he continued dreamily, “You have no idea what it’s like having to start all over food wise! I was eating luxury meals all my life, and now I have to be in charge of my own food? That is a big step down.”

 

He stood up and clenched his fist, determination etched across his face. “I swear I will learn to make good food, if it’s the last thing I ever do,” He proclaimed with fire. “I shall not rest until I have mastered the art of cooking! Until I have conquered how to make pasta! Until I have triumphed over soups! Until I have vanquished grilled meats! This is my pledge!”

 

Around him his friends were giggling and laughing at his display. He shot them all a cheeky grin as he continued his tirade, continuing with fire in his voice. “My foes will speak in hushed whispers at my legendary battle over pastries,” He divulged as he made his way into the kitchen. Rummaging around he turned around to brandish a set of tongs over his head. “Wielding the mighty weapons gifted to me by my father, I will win!” His friends broke down into renewed fits of laughter at his heroics.

 

“Alright, we believe you oh mighty food lord,” Alya wheezed from her place. “Now come sit down so we can have a regular conversation. Not that your proclamation was not fun.”

 

Adrien started to saunter back over, but stopped quickly. “You know what, one more proclamation,” he said. “In one month’s time, I hope that I can make you guys the best dinner ever.”

 

Marinette raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And what brought about this pledge.”

 

Adrien’s gaze grew softer and he ducked his head to look a the floor. “Well we never had family dinners at my house. So I was hoping we could maybe make up for that,” he admitted nervously.

 

Nino reached over and grabbed his friend’s arm to give it a gentle squeeze. “Ay man, we can have all the family dinners you want. Right guys?” He looked around to see Marinette and Alya vigorously nodding their heads. He turned back to Adrien, who was giving him a soft thankful smile. “Now how about you sit back down and we brainstorm some ideas for future dinners for the four of us. Sound good?”

 

Adrien gave a relieved nod of his head and sat back down. “I really like Thai food,” Marinette admitted first. “Especially food with peanuts? Simply the best.”

 

“I have to say, I am a bit more basic. Any kind of pasta. Simple as that.” Nino said. He gave a dreamy sigh as he continued, “Especially pesto. I am always down for pesto dishes.”

 

Next Alya simply said, “Beef. If you can make a good dish with beef in it, you have my vote.”

 

It took Adrien a minute to think about it, but he settled with, “Fish steaks.” He could almost feel his mouth water as he thought about the last fish steak he had. “A nice slab of tuna or swordfish with a salad. My chef used to make them just the way I liked them, with a little pink in the middle.”

 

“Alright mr fancy,” Nino scoffed, “You may have to finance a fish steak dinner yourself. Have you seen how much they cost? Only a prince could afford them. Oh wait,” He said with a smirk.

 

Adrien rolled his eyes as his friend’s poked fun at his expensive tastes, but He could not help but smiling. He was keeping careful note of what everyone liked the best, for future meals. And the prospect of having meals with his three best friends sent his pulse racing with glee. He wanted to spoil them as much as they were spoiling him by just including him. And it looked like this might just be the way to do it. 


	4. Night Time Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little interaction between two superheros late at night.

Marinette might have been done with school for the summer, but she sill had a very important job to do over her break.

Being a super hero was a year round job, and just because she was in a new place did not mean she could take a break. And that is how she found herself sneaking off to her new place to transform. Eyes darting around, Marinette made her way up the stairs at the end of her hall and climbed all the way to the top. She let out a breath of relief as she found that the roof access was still not locked. She really needed to start looking for secondary locations to possibly transform, just in case.

As usual, the roof was abandoned except for some laundry that had been hung up to dry. She let Tikki out of her bag and quickly went through the ritual to become her super hero persona. Off she went, a flash of red against the bright skyline of paris to meet up with her partner.

She was not surprised to find that her partner had arrived first. Chat turned and gave a soft smile as he waved hello. “How have you been my lady?” he asked cordially.

Ladybug smiled back and walked up to stand next to him on the ledge of the building they were on. “You know how summer break is,” She said airily as she leaned into him.”

“Hmm, lots on sitting around and cat nap?” Chat replied.

“I wish,” Ladybug snorted. “Nope, I am busy getting ready for my next step in schooling. Gotta stay on top of my game.”

Chat chuckled. “Well I’m sure you can take a break if you really wanted to. How about we stay on top of our game and get this patrol going?”

They flew through the air easily as they made a familiar pass through the city. It had been years since they had defeated Hawkmoth, but they still liked to look around the city just in case. It never hurt to be vigilant. And they were able to catch up while they went about their duties as well.

“Did you see that story about the guy who was selling little Eiffel Towers made of lead?” Chat called out as they passed the monument. “I heard he was selling them for crazy good prices,” he said with a grin, “although his tactics sounded a bit heavy.”

“Really? Lead jokes?” Ladybug replied in a dry tone. She loved his jokes, she really did. Just sometimes they fell a bit flat.

“Im trying my best here.” Chat said.

They kept going for a while, cracking jokes about the different places they were passing and the people they would see. At this point they were in no hurry to look for any would be villains, and they could spend all their time together as friends.

As always they ended their evening patrol off by sitting on a building by the river and commenting about the pedestrians passing by.

“I bet she has a secret life also as a superhero,” Chat said as he pointed at a lady passing by. She was wearing a deep blue coat and a bright pink feather boa. “How can someone like that not be a superhero?” He pointed out. 

Ladybug just rolled her eyes and pointed at a balding man in a smart black suit who was rushing down the street. He had a briefcase tucked under his arm and was looking around for anyone who might be on the street. “I bet he is a secret agent, delivering secrets about our government to a foreign one,” she guessed. “And inside the briefcase is a secret token that would make everyone sterile, killing their culture off slowly.”

Next to her Chat winced. “Goodness my lady, quite the imagination going tonight huh?” He said with a raised eyebrow.

Ladybug just huffed and turned her head to one side. “Don’t blame me for being the more creative of the two of us,” She said with a sly smile.

Just as she expected Chat doubled down and tried his best to come up with great ideas. “Three Platypuses stacked on top of each other to murder the vendor down the street.” “A stay at home dominatrix who is out getting extra supplies for a client.” “My father masquerading as a regular human being.”

By the end of their speculation they were both clutching their sides at the other’s suggestions. “I still don’t think we would ever top Hawkmoth on the wacky ideas for everyday people front,” Ladybug admitted, thinking back to all the wacky akumas they had faced.

Next to her Chat gave a loud groan and rolled his eyes. “Tell me about it. I am so glad we were able to beat that guy when we did. If I had to deal with another villain with a wacky theme I would think about quitting. Why did these people have to get sad about the things they did? Not getting to take a picture with Jagged Stone? Not being able to feed the birds? What made those worth revenge?”

Ladybug stood up and shrugged as she reached for her yo yo. “I think that might be mystery we may never discover,” she admitted. “I am afraid it’s a mystery you will have to investigate yourself, because I have important real life things to take care of.”

Chat got up as well and languidly stretched. “I understand bugaboo,” He said, “We both have our civilian lives after all, and I also have matters to attend to. Same time next week?”

“Of course,” She purred, “I would hate to miss time with my favorite kitty.” She turned away and smiled to herself as she zipped away at the blush she could see creeping across his face as she left. She never got tired of seeing her partner getting flustered at her words.

She thought about him as she took a slightly roundabout way home. They had been partners for a few years now, and Ladybug would have no one else. She considered their friendship on par with the ones she had with Alya, Adrien and Nino. It was a bit strained because of the barrier of their masks, but if there was one person she knew to trust it was Chat.

And their teenage years had hit Chat like a truck. He was well defined, muscular, broad shouldered. And always in a skintight suit, which showed everything off perfectly. Sometimes she thought he pranced around just to flaunt that amazing body of his and get a reaction out of her. It could make patrols a bit difficult at times, thinking about the sculpted body soaring across they sky just out of reach of her.

She had better things to think about as she landed on the roof of her building and let go of her transformation though. As she walked out from behind on of the units on the roof, she spotted Adrien. Her first thought was why was he up here to begin with. Her second thought was oh shit, what reason do I have to be up here?

Before she could retreat and hide herself until he left, she saw his eyes land on her. “Marinette?” Adrien’s confused voice rang out over the roof. Well, looked like the jig was up. With a sigh, Marinette forced a nervous smile and stepped further out onto the roof.

“Hey there, what are you doing up here?” She said with a nervous laugh. She sauntered over to where he was standing and gave him a good natured punch in the shoulder. Real smooth Marinette she thought.

Adrien chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. “Funny story, I was looking for you, I guess?” He questioned, like he was unsure if that was the right answer or not.

Marinette gave another fake laugh and linked her arm with his. “Well here I am,” she said as she started to lead him back to the stairwell. “You found me, so proud of you.”

They were quiet after that as they walked to their apartments. Each was wondering why the other was on the roof. Each was wondering if the other person had figured them out. Each of them were sorely wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it has been a while. Hopefully the next chapter will take less time to write. Hope you enjoyed it!


	5. Work To Be Done

It was the end of summer, and Adrien was elated.

He was starting college! He was getting a higher education instead of just working as a model! He had some freedom to the direction his future took! All of these things added up to a very happy Adrien on the first day of classes.

His day started much the same way as it usually did. Adrien was always the first person to wake up, He liked to go for early morning runs while the coffee was brewing in his kitchen. Then he would get back, rinse off quickly, and sit down at his table to get breakfast.

Around this time his friends would usually start wandering in. Right on cue, Marinette stumbled through the door in a pink robe with her mug held high, her eyes half shut and tired. Adrien smiled and pointed to the pot that was sitting on the counter. It looked like Marinette had decided to bring her favorite cat themed mug today. She grunted in thanks after she finished pouring and shambled back to her side of the hall.

Next was Alya. She would shuffle in with her orange robe and the mug that said “Fuck off”. She would at least try and communicate with Adrien, giving a simple grunt as a greeting before taking her fill of coffee and making her way out again. Adrien gave her a smile and a wave as she shuffled out of the room. With the girls taken care of Adrien would turn back to his phone and continue catching up on the day’s news.

It had started when Marinette came over one morning begging for coffee because she was out. Then she came back because she liked the coffee he bought better. The next morning she had brought Alya with her because Marinette was too lazy to make coffee that day. Now Adrien would unlock the door in the morning because it was their unspoken agreement that he would provide the coffee from now on. An agreement he was more than happy to take part in. 

Most mornings Nino did not join him for coffee. He was up late and slept late, and as such had no time for early morning drinks. But today he shuffled in and gave Adrien a tired smile. Adrien returned the gesture as Nino sat down across from him without getting any coffee. “Hey there buddy, what are you doing up so early?” Adrien asked in his chipper morning voice.

It took Nino a few minutes before he managed to gather the energy to talk. “I was not sleeping so well,” he yawned. Adrien frowned at that. He knew Nino had been not sleeping well lately, but he had no clue why. Its not like Adrien “stays up all night as a super hero” Agreste was the best about getting sleep.

“Would you like some coffee?” Adrien offered instead.

Nino considered it before shaking his head and slowly getting up from the table. “I think I’ll just go back to sleep dude,” He mumbled as he shuffled back to his room. Adrien frowned but then he saw the time. Jerking up from his seat he grabbed his bag and started out the door. He could address the Nino situation latter, it was time to get to school.

Adrien was practically vibrating when he got to class. Public school had been a great first step, but he had never thought he would get this far in his education. And here he was, on his first step to getting a degree! And all it had taken was some light negotiations with his father. His mood soured slightly as he thought about those negotiations. Okay, maybe not light. But he was here, wasn’t he? That had to count for something?

Screw father, he thought to himself with more confidence than he was feeling, I am not going to let him ruin this day. So with great happiness he took a seat right at the front of the class.

His schedule was decently packed for school. He wanted to learn as much as possible, and with a much lighter work schedule he could afford to for once. There were the necessary introductory courses, but he was also taking a couple of physics courses already. Those were the highlight of his day. Those teachers were much more animated and interesting than the generic ones that taught the introductory courses.

Adrien was practically walking on cloud nine on his way home when he got the call. His heart sank as soon as he saw it was Nathalie. He briefly thought about not answering it, but then thought about how much fun he had already today. There was no way he was going to be losing that. So with a sigh he answered.

“Hello?” He asked politely.

“Ah, Adrien,” Nathalie’s curt voice came from the other end. You could always count on her to be professional. “Your father would like you to come early for a photo shoot. There was a scheduling conflict and the photographer for Wednesday could only come today. The shoot will be in an hour. Do you need a ride?”

It was as he feared. Looked like his father was not about to start treating him like an independent person quite yet. Adrien looked up at the street sign and mentally calculated the distance to the photo shoot. “There is no need, I can walk myself there on time,” Adrien said glumly.

“Thank you Adrien. That will be all,” Nathalie informed him before hanging up. Adrien let out a sigh before he turned around and traveled away from his apartment and back towards the studio.

It was dark by the time he was released from the unexpected photo shoot. As Adrien got back into his everyday cloths he dug out his phone and glanced at the screen. Right away his heart let as he saw the texts from his three friends. His smile grew as he scrolled through them.

Nino had been the first to text him, asking if he would be around for dinner. Then why he was not home yet. Soon after Alya and Marinette joined in texting and even calling him. All wondering where he was and if he was okay. “I hope you did not abandon us because you meat cooler people at school,” One text from Nino read. Adrien just smiled and shook his head at how worried his friends were.

Once he was on the street Adrien dialed Nino up. The response was almost Immediate. “Dude! Where are you?” Nino shouted into the phone. Adrien held it away from his ear as Nino continued to yell, “We are worried sick! You never go silent on your phone! I think Marinette almost cried! Although that might have been a bit over dramatic. Anyways, the point is that you have some explaining to do!”

“Its alright Nino!” Adrien said with an airy laugh, “I was just-“

He was interrupted by Nino. “You were just what, making new friends? Or making out with someone in the library? The possibilities are endless!”

“I was at a shoot!” Adrien butted in while Nino took a breath. “My father rescheduled a shoot for today after school.” He paused to let his friend take that in.

There was silence, and then a frustrated sigh. “Really man? Still? I mean I’m glad it was something simple, but really? I thought you were done modeling.” Adrien could hear the exasperation in Nino’s voice now that he knew Adrien was okay. “And you could not even think to let us know before hand? I mean we were worried sick over nothing!”

In the background Adrien could hear the girls asking a question. “Yeah, he’s alright.” Nino murmured to them. “Got caught up in a photoshoot, can you believe it?” More mutterings, then, “I know! I told him he should have let us know. Okay, ill tell him.” Adrien smiled to himself as Nino got louder as he addressed Adrien again. “They told me to tell you that we had plans and you ruined them.” Then more mutterings on the other side of the phone. “And that you will have to make it up by taking us out for ice cream,” Nino declared.

Adrien let out a happy laugh as he entered the building. “I’ll take you all out as soon as I get home, how about that,” He said as he took the stairs up three at a time.

“Oh? And when is that?” Nino said defensively, “And when will that be? Another hour?”

Adrien hung up the phone as he opened the door to his apartment. Three heads whipped around to face him. Nino was still on the phone, standing by the balcony entrance. Marinette and Alya were standing at the table. “How about right now?” Adrien declared with a big cheesy grin.

“Oh my god we were so worried!” Marinette yelled as she tackled him in a hug. Adrien felt the air driven from his chest from the impact of the hug. He did not have the chance to catch it as Alya and Nino both forcefully joined in. He grinned as his friends shoved their faces into his chest and shoulders. 

“Hey guys, I’m glad to see you too,” He said with another laugh as he embraced them back.

Three sets of angry but relieved eyes looked up at him and detangled themselves. And then the Lecture began.

Adrien went about his business getting dinner ready as they scolded him for not contacting them and making them worried. He knew that he kinda deserved it, but he was elated at the thought that they were worried about him in the first place. He tried pointing out once that they could have contacted Nathalie, but they quickly shot him down on that. “You are an adult and should no longer be under that gargoyles control,” Alya huffed at him. Adrien figured the gargoyle in question was his father, but decided to not fight that one.

Dinner went smoothly. Once his three roommates had their mouths stuffed the berating him died down. Pasta really did work wonders. “I guess this makes up a bit for your disappearance,” Marinette sighed as she finished off her plate.

“Yeah, its hard to stay mad at you with a full stomach,” Nino admitted.

Adrien smiled in amusement. “I’ll have to keep that in mind next time I turn my phone off,” He chuckled. “Seriously though, Im glad you were all worried about me. Ill make sure to text you next time I have something come up.”

Across the table from him Alya tapped her fork against her lips in thought. “I guess it’s not a super big deal really,” She conceded, “I think the big deal was we all were expecting you and you are just so timely with responding when you are not working. It was really off for you not to respond.” She looked next to her and smirked. “Mari over here almost fainted when Nino mentioned you might have been kidnapped or something.”

Nino laughed and Adrien glanced over to see that Marinette was playing with her noodles, a red flush racing across her face. “Well, I, well,” she floundered, “I mean I guess I was worried, but maybe not fainting levels of worried. I was as concerned as everyone else at this table, okay?”

Adrien chuckled and tentatively laid his hand on Marinette’s elbow. “It’s all right, I’m glad that you were worried for me,” He said. They met eyes, and Adrien could feel a flush of his own raising across his cheeks. Of course he had to get gushy at the dinner table. The points of his fingers burned from the heat of the arm under him. That was maybe enough of that he thought, and quickly returned his hand. Better not to linger on her too long, especially with Alya and Nino at the table. One glance at their coy smiles told him that maybe his feelings were pretty obvious here.

Marinette took a big gulp of her water next to him. She set her glass down a little harder than normal and stood up with her plate in her hand. “Well that was an excellent dinner, thank you as always,” She blurted out, her words rushed. “How about we clean up this mess then and get to that ice cream? Anyone?” She hurriedly went around the table gathering up the plates, anything to distract her from Adrien comforting her.

While Marinette washed the dishes, Alya slid up next to her and bumped her hip. When Marinette looked over at her Alya gave she a smirk and raised her eyebrows in a suggestive manner, her eyes flickering to Adrien on the couch. Marinette blushed and scrubbed harder.

While Adrien sat on the couch putting his shoes on, Nino sat next to him and bumped his shoulder. When Adrien looked over at him Nino gave him a wide smile and raised his eyebrows in a suggestive manner, his eyes flickering to Marinette in the kitchen. Adrien blushed and had to start tying his shoes over again.

Looks like not much has changed thought Alya and Nino.

I’m screwed thought Marinette and Adrien.

The walk to the ice cream shop went about how Adrien thought it might. The sidewalk there was not big enough for four people, so they split into two’s. Alya and Marinette walked in front and Adrien and Nino walked in the back. From the back Adrien was able to admire the two girls in front of him. He liked watching them chat as they walked. They liked to face each other and glance at where they were going as a second thought. Sometimes he or Nino would have to point out that they were going to run into something or walk into traffic. Even so, Adrien loved watching how attentive they were to each other as they chatted.

“So how did the shoot go?” Nino asked next to Adrien, pulling him out of his thoughts. Maybe he should be paying more attention on the handsome dude next to him and not the handsome ladies in front of him, he thought.

Adrien did not even try to put on a face smile like he might have years ago when it came to modeling. Nino knew him too well to try and pull that off. Instead Adrien went for a more nonchalant shrug. “It was okay I guess,” he said. “It was for a new line that Dad is trying to put out soon, and it went by quick and smooth. I’m just glad that it was a single shoot and I don’t have to go back for another.”

“So are you free for a while then from modeling?” Nino said hopefully.

Adrien knew the answer, but decided this could be one little white lie he could feed his friend. Giving Nino a smile Adrien reassured, “yeah, I think I will be free for a while now.”

“That sounds like something to celebrate!” Marinette cheered from in front of him. The girls had fallen back a bit as soon as they heard the boys chatting. 

“How about I treat you to some mint ice cream? A cool treat for our steaming model,” Alya offered with a wink and a cheeky smile. 

Next to Adrien Nino let out an indignant huff. “Hey, he is my hot model best friend! Hands off! I was going to get that ice cream for him,” He spat, grabbing Adrien by the bicep and sticking out his tongue. “You have to find your own hot person to indulge dude.”

There was a twinkle in Alya’s eye, and she slid her arm around Marinette’s shoulder. “Looks like I have,” she gloated.

Marinette looked up at Adrien and rolled her eyes. “When will they stop treating us like sex objects and see us for real people?” She said with overdone exasperation. Adrien could already see the smile playing on her lips.

He leaned forward and stage whispered to her, “Don’t start that revolution quite yet, I want my free ice cream.”

A giggle escaped Marinette as they stopped at a crosswalk. Adrien watched as she glanced down at her shoes, looked back up at him and bit her lip nervously before going up on her tip toes to whisper in his ear, “if you want to cool off that bad, I can always cover for you hot stuff.” As she pulled back she gave him a wink and licked her lips.

Adrien was speechless. It had been one thing for Alya and Nino to fawn over his physical appearance. They always seemed to do that. But Marinette doing so was a rare occurrence. And it needed to be savored. Because only she could sent his temperature going up like it was now. He could feel his cheeks already steaming at such a simple little flirty line from her. She had been dropping them more and more over the last year or so, and Adrien was always effected by even the little things she would say to him.

He did managed to smile back, even if it was a bit nervous. “Ye-yeah, that sounds like an offer I will, I can take you up on,” he stuttered. Marinette shot him another smile before turning around to face forward and cross the street with Alya.

Next to him Nino nudged him and gave him a cocky smile. “Looks like the cat’s got your tongue,” he teased.

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Adrien grumbled. He rushed on, “Anyway, I was telling you about the shoot right? Still wanna talk about that? Or anything else really? And not the thing that just happened?”

Two laughs bubbled up in front of him after that line. Nino chuckled before giving into his friends wishes and talking about a gig he had coming up.

When all was said and done that night, Adrien managed to walk out of the ice cream shop with three cones in his hands and his friends arguing over which was actually his favorite flavor. Adrien just smiled quietly and let them fight, not letting any of them know that he had three favorite flavors. Strange how that worked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for those who have given me kudos and commented! I hope over the summer I can get more chapters out. Thank you again for reading!


	6. A Rough Patch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette is having a rough time, and the group is going to figure it out.

It had been four months now since they had moved in, and Adrien was finding that the four of them were inseparable. Or at least as inseparable as they could be. With how busy they could all get between school and work, it was impressive that they saw each other at all. But they tried their best.

Game nights were very popular between them. Adrien was more than happy to start adding board games to the little cabinet he had bought and put in the living room. They usually liked to play cooperative games so that there was no hurt feelings. However, sometimes they would form teams of two or play separately to get the competitive edge out of their systems. Adrien liked the team up games, and found he did just as well with Alya and Marinette as he did with Nino.

Another favorite pastime of the group was movie night. They would all try and fit on the couch in the boy’s living room, laughing and joking about the lack of space. Each would secretly relish the feeling of their friends being so close. It had started as a way for all of them to wind down after long days, but they soon found that it was very hard with their lives to truly wind down. Alya brought her notes to one night, and then Marinette brought her sketch book to work on, and then Adrien had his math notes open on his lap the next week. Now they would all sit together and work while taking in the movie passively in the background. It made the weekend marathons they did with no work allowed just that much sweeter.

All this time Adrien had found himself interacting with Marinette so much more than he had ever before. Sure, they had been great friends for the last couple years. But this was different. He saw her in a new light like never before. The way she watched movies intensely. The way she always managed to eat the most at the table, especially when he was cooking. The intensity in which she dove into her work and the commissions she did for a living. They were all new and exciting to Adrien.

And he found himself wanting to see more.

This led to Adrien wandering over to the girl’s side more often to see what Marinette was doing. Or asking to get lunch with her if he knew they were in the same part of town. Even just claiming to be her partner in a board game before the other two could get a word in. All these things he did because he wanted be a part of her experience more and more.

Of course, this was all because he wanted to be a great friend. And good friends tried to talk to their friends as much as possible.

He would ask about how she was doing, how she was enjoying living in the apartment. Those were freebies, her face always split into a grin and she would start to gush about how much fun she was having and the amazingness of it all. If he asked about school it would be a bit harder to get the answers, but they would come. She would muse and hum about how she was learning so many new things but that it was quite demanding. Adrien could tell that it was not her favorite thing, but she was pushing through.

And then there was work.

“How are the commissions going?” He asked over lunch one day.

For a brief moment, the light went out in her face. Her smile faltered and her brows creased, twitching together in displeasure. Her eyes darkened slightly before a new look that Adrien knew all too well came across her face. It was a painted smile. Her mouth quirked and her features smoothed, but she averted her gaze and there was no happiness in her voice. “Oh you know, its going really well I think,” She said in a voice that was cheery. Adrien did not buy it for a second.

She went on to talk about the piece she was working on at school instead, diverting away from the subject of the commissions she had been working on for the last month. Adrian frowned slightly, but put his smile back on when she started to gush about how they were learning about different wedding designs in one of her classes. The small signals about the commission work would warrant further discussion later, but for right now he would revel in her happiness with her. Thats what friends were for right?

———————

“Im worried about Marinette.” Adrien led with.

Across the dinner table from him Alya let out a sigh of relief. It was just the two of them tonight, which is just what Adrien was hoping for. Nino was at a gig and Marinette had a class at this time, so they got some much needed one on one time. “You think so?” Alya asked, “Because I feel like something has been bugging me about that girl, but I just can’t put my finger on it. Whats your thoughts tiger.”

Adrien sighed and took a bite of the food he had made before answering. “It has something to do with her work I think,” Adrien said. “The way she looked when I brought up that commission and how she deflected after really made me think something might be up with her. I don’t think I have ever really seen her get down about her work before.”

Alya excitedly pointed her fork at him while she chewed. She swallowed hurriedly and exclaimed, “Thats it! Oh man, you’re right. She never talks about work anymore.” Alya shook her head as she digested the information. “She will talk about school or other things that happen in her day, but she never talks about work. Which is actually really strange. You know how excited she was to get this commission out of school.”

They both nodded a bit as they remembered the night Marinette had announced her first real job. She had been practically humming all through dinner before she jumped up to tell them that she had gotten a new job.

“Its a commission for a small clothing store that sells children’s cloths down the street,” She said, beaming. She motioned with her hands as she continued, “Its only a few sets of shirts and pants, but they said they were interested from some other work I had done for one of the customers a while back. I have done a few works for some friends, and I guess they were so happy with it they recommended it to the store!” She was almost out of breath at this point, her eyes shinning with excitement.

The group had quickly congratulated her on the work, and in the upcoming days it was almost all the heard about from their friend.

But as Adrien and Alya sat and thought and talked, they realized that the excitement that she had shown once had dwindled away over time. As Marinette started getting into her work more she stopped talking about it as much. “You know I thought the shine of the work had just worn down over time, but now I’m wondering if it is something else,” Alya hummed.

Adrien sighed and put down his fork to clasp him fingers together. “I don’t want to needle her about her life too much, but I worry about our friend sometimes,” he mumbled.

Alya frowned herself as she looked over the table at the morose Adrien. As worried as she was for Marinette, she could see that this was eating at Adrien. He always seemed to take on the mother hen role in the group, trying to make sure that everyone was being taken care of. Hell here she was eating a dinner he had prepared because she had simply mentioned how much work she had done today and he had insisted she rest.

Mind turning, Alya reached across the table and put her hand on top of Adrien’s. When he caught her eye he was chewing his lip, and Alya offered him a small smile. “Listen, its not something we can worry about now,” she explained, “I think we caught something going on with a friend, but thats it for right now. So lets worry about keeping an eye on her and no more, sound good?”

Adrien did not looked convinced, but he nodded regardless. A small smile flitted across his face as he grasped the hand on top of his and squeezed it lightly. “Thank you. You’re a good friend Alya, you know that right?”

Alya struggled for a second to keep her composure as her heart beat a bit faster. How were there people who were this pure in the world. So instead of going for something just as heartwarming Alya smirked and said “You know it hot stuff. Now lets get these dishes done so you and I can watch a shitty rom com to take our minds off our friends. Sound good?”

Adrien chucked and nodded. “Sounds like a deal.”

When Marinette got back from her class the lights were out and the tv was on. She dropped her bag by the door and walked into the kitchen to rummage through the fridge until she found a new tupperware that had her name on it from tonight. Looks like Adrien had outdone himself on the pasta tonight. Not even bothering to heat it up she grabbed a fork and started eating it straight from the container. It had been a long day of classes, and she was looking to wind down. After she poured herself a bottle of their cheapest red wine she finally turned her attention to the living room.

It was no wonder neither of her friends had woken her up. Adrien and Alya were out cold on the couch, both of them cuddled up. Adrien had his head firmly pillowed on Alya’s chest, and Alya looked like she had been playing with his hair from the hand laying on his face. They each had an arm wrapped around the back of the other.

Marinette could not tell who she was more jealous of.

She devoured her meal and left the empty tupperware in the sink and finished her glass of wine before moving around the counter to the living room. She knew that she desperately wanted in on this, she just had no clue of how to go about it. Sadly their apartment’s couch was not very big, and as such there was not much room to slot herself in on the action. On the one side Alya was leaning up against the arm of the chair, so most of the space was on Adrien’s side. And the thought of cuddling up next to Adrien, well that was extremely tantalizing.

As she considered her course of action, she actually got lucky. Alya snorted so loud in her sleep that she jostled her sleeping buddy and woke herself up in the process. Maine suppressed a giggle as her two friends came to and saw her standing over them. Adrien was the first to react, his face flashing surprise followed by excitement. “Marinette!” he slurred, his speaking not quite up to the task, “What are you up to?”

She let herself giggle out loud now. “I was just figuring out the best way to join this dog pile,” She hummed happily.

Across from her Adrien and Alya exchanged looks before smiles came across their faces and they looked back at her. Adrien slid over so there was space between them and Alya patted it. “I think our fav girl belongs in the honorary middle of the sandwich.” When Marinette made a show of putting her hand to her chest in mock surprise and mouthing ‘who me?’ Alya just rolled her eyes, grabbed her giggling friend by the wrist, and dragged her onto the couch. Marinette was still giggling as both Alya and Adrien wrapped their arms around her and settled against her.

Adrien turned his head and rested his chin on her shoulder. “How was school?” He asked simply. Marinette grinned wider as her heart beat sped up. Maybe it was the wine, or maybe it was the green eyed model staring at her, but she was feeling pretty good.

“Oh it was terrible,” She chirped. When Adrien frowned as Alya squeezed her lightly from behind Marinette turned back tot he movie and hummed. “But I feeling better with you guys now.” She could almost feel the silent deliberation going on between her friends, but now was not the time. She could wallow in messed up and very long day, so she could enjoy this. So she slipped her arms around her friends and pulled them close so they were resting on her shoulders. “We can talk later. I just want to know if Louis will ever find the courage to tell his high school love his true feelings.”

That seemed to ease the tension, and Alya started to catch her up on what had happened so far. Marinette paid little attention, relishing in the comfort she was surrounded in instead.

_________

A lazy night night gave way to a busy day, and Marinette was feeling it.

In the morning she had to rush to her first class, hastily grabbing a cup of coffee from Adrien’s apartment first. He waved her off with his usual sunny morning smile, and for the fifth time that week Marinette really wished that some of that morning energy would rub off on her. Alas it did not, and had to slog through two classes completely drained. She found herself doodling in the margins of her sketchbook instead of taking notes yet again. She tried to ay attention to the lecturer, but their presentation was so boring she found herself falling asleep.

Marinette rubbed her temples and frowned. She knew school was going to be rough, but this was just over the top.

Once she was done with classes, Marinette was done with school for the day. She practically ran home at the thought of what was waiting for her. It felt like all of her energy had returned to her as she exchanged her school stuff for workout cloths and ran across the hall. She opened the door to the boy’s side and there he was. Adrien Agreste, actual model in workout shorts and a tank top. He was lounging on the couch, but he looked over and smiled as she came in. “I was wondering if you were going to make it to our work out session,” he said.

God did he look good Marinette thought as she nodded and grinned. She knew he was ripped, but she really got to appreciate it once they had started working out together. The way his shoulders rippled as he pushed himself off the couch. How his thighs just fit his shorts and how his calves looked as he walked. Just the way he filled out that tank top was amazing. She was one lucky girl.

“So whats the plan today, run and some weights?” Adrien asked, pulling Marinette out of her mind. 

She nodded and gave him a smirk, her hand on her hips. “You think you can keep up today? Looked like you were lagging behind a bit yesterday.”

He laughed at the remark as he tied his running shoes. “I was just letting you take the lead for a while, thats all,” he responded with a glint of humor. “Besides, who said the view from behind was that bad?”

Marinette felt her face heat up as she gasped and swatted him on the shoulder playfully. Adrien just laughed and started out the door, letting Marinette to defuse after the complement and follow him. 

This had been a more regular occurrence with their workouts. Marinette had noticed it at first when she saw him checking her out in her workout gear. He had passed it off as “admiring the fabric,” but she knew. He would still do it when he thought she was not looking. 

He made comments too. They would start off as innocent. “Man, I wish I could lift as much as you can.” Then they would get more suggestive. “I never knew how nice your legs looked until we started doing squats together.” And now he had escalated to, “I need to bring your over for laundry tomorrow, I need your amazing washboard abs.”

Of course Marinette tried to give as much as she got. At first she was flustered, sure. I mean this was Adrien she was talking about. But something about it felt almost natural, and after she got over herself she decided to try and fire back with as much as he was giving.

On this day Marinette decided to lag behind a bit in their run around the town. They were taking it easy, only a few miles, but someone had to take the lead. Marinette used her time to admire Adrien as she kept up with him. She especially made sure to when he would glance back to make sure she was keeping up. A quick glance up from his butt, along his pumping shoulder muscles to his eyes. Or she would linger on his triceps a bit before meeting his gaze. Sometimes he would pretend not to notice, but other times he would grin and pick up the pace.

Then came the weights. Adrien had used some of his “rich boy money” as Nino liked to call it to buy a small weight set they placed on the roof. They had a small set they were going through today, but it was still intense. Lunges, pushups, bicep curls, they started with the simple stuff. Then came the harder stuff, like five minutes of jump rope and bench presses. And all of it was done with an intense energy as they tried to somehow show the other person up.

Marinette loved it. She had never found a partner to work out with, other than Chat, who could keep up with her. She had tried with Alya, but had quickly been disappointed. But Adrien was just as fit as she was, and he had the same competitiveness that she had when it came to physical activity. It was like they had been doing this together for much longer than they had been.

Alas the glorious workout session had to come to an end. The two workout buddies were left panting and sweating as they descended down the stairs back to their apartments. “Man, I really thought I had you there at the end,” Adrien huffed as he got to his door. He grinned down at her as he mopped back the hair that was plastered to his forehead.

Marinette simply gave him a wink as she opened up her door and slipped inside her apartment. “Maybe if you traded in your good looks for some more strength you could beat me. Until next time partner,” She laughed.

Not bothering to see the flush that would be on his face, Marinette sauntered into the kitchen. There was nothing like a good workout to really boost her confidence and happiness. As she grabbed a glass for herself, Alya came in from where she was sitting on the porch. She leaned against the entrance of the hallway and let her eyes rove up and down her roommate. Marinette smirked at her friend, deciding to give her a bit of a show. Why not? Marinette was feeling very good in her own skin after all.

Flexing a bit as she dramatically downed her glass of water, Marinette set it down and leaned backwards against the counter, letting her back muscles and triceps really pop out. “Liking what you see?” Marinette inquired with a smirk.

Alya was indeed liking what she was seeing. She tried to play coy, but in reality her heart was beating hard and fast. She always knew that Marinette was shredded as all get out, but it was times like these when she really got to appreciate it. Here was her best friend, in a sports bra and shorts. Sure the shorts were kind of baggy, but other than that Alya was privy to everything. The ripped arms. The rippling back. The thighs that could crush a watermelon between them, a feat Marinette had demonstrated on one very interesting picnic.

“Hell yea girl,” Alya said in the least gay way she could think of. Marinette pushed herself off the counter and turned so she was facing Alya instead, hands on her hips and abs flexed. Jesus, had her calves always been that toned? “Those workout sessions with Adrien must really be paying of huh?” Alya said, trying her best to meet her friends eyes instead of letting them wander anymore.

Marinette laughed as she started to make her way down the hall. “Sure, that must be it. Now excuse me, I gotta take a shower something bad.”

As Marinette passed in front of her, Alya decided to act on impulse and throw a bit off caution to the wind.

Marinette yelped a bit as Alya smacked her on the ass and said in a semi serious voice, “Good work out there, hit the showers champ.” Laughing it off, Marinette flexed on more time before disappearing into the bathroom, leaving a very flustered Alya behind.

Sadly, the high of being aired by two hot people was not a good enough high for Marinette to ride for the rest of the night. After her shower, she was left alone in her room with her thoughts and Tikki. While that latter was not bad, the former was. She was left to wallow in half made designed that were abandoned on her desk and strewn about her room. As much as Tikki did to try and cheer her up, having to be in a place filled with her failures was pretty upsetting to Marinette.

“All I have to do is just make it another hour until dinner is ready,” She said aloud, trying to convince herself as she laid on her bed. But it was looking more and more like that hour was going to be pretty sad for her. “Why is this so hard for me Tikki?” She groaned.

Her Kwami frowned and cuddled up closer to her chosen’s cheek. “You have been gifted for so long with success Marinette. This is not your fault, even if it might feel like it. Maybe you need time away from this place?” Tikki offered in a hopeful voice. “A change in scenery might be just what you need!”

Marinette sighed and responded, “But where would I go? I could go over to the boy’s place, but I don’t really want to be around them right now.”

It took the spirit a few seconds before she lit up and tugged at Marinette. “I know just the place to go!” Tikki sang.

And so Marinette found herself setting a different dinner table that night. Sure, she had to cancel with her friends for the first time since they had moved in together, but she really needed this.

As Marinette sat down with her parents at their house above the bakery, she felt a bit of calm return to her mind.

Across the table from her, her mother smiled and said, “We are so glad you asked to come over for dinner dear. Its been too long since we have seen you!”

“Mom, I went to the farmers market with you last weekend,” Marinette pointed out as she dug it. It was kind of weird not having spicy food. Alya had been experimenting recently with hotter foods and Marinette was getting used to it. Either way, it was always good to get a home cooked meal.

Her father chuckled next to her. “That is true, but it is so strange to have out little girl out of the house for so long!” 

Her mother nodded along. “I walked into your room to remind you to wake up the other morning. Its strange getting used to your absence.” Then she brightened up. “But it is so good that you are with your friends now! Tell us, how are they?”

Marinette set down her silverware to think about it for a moment. “Well its great living with Alya. She has been working very hard as a reporter, and its all she ever talks about. Adrien is busy with school, and occasionally modeling, but he is really enthusiastic about what he is learning. And Nino has been getting gigs as a DJ pretty often, so Ill see him in the day mostly and then he disappears at night.”

Smiles broke out across her parents faces as they listened. “It sounds like you kids are having fun then!” Her father boomed. Then he furrowed his eyebrows and said, “I thought Adrien was done with modeling though? What changed.”

At this Marinette huffed and rolled her eyes. “Its some sort of deal he struck with his dad. If Adrien does less modeling but stays with the brand, his father will pay for his school and give him a real salary. He is basically keeping Adrien hostage while he can.”

Her parents both frowned at this, and Sabine clucked her tongue. “That boy needs to get out on his own,” She chided. “The apartment is a big step, but he needs to spread his wings more. And eat more. That child is like a twig it seems like.”

Marinette hummed along as she thought about the rippling muscles she had seen only this afternoon. He might not be stacked, but she knew he was still super strong. She tired to keep a neutral face as she thought about how great those muscles would feel under her hands, straining as he slid over her….

“Is there a reason you decided to come over tonight other than seeing your dear parents?” Her father’s inquiry broke her thoughts before they got too steamy. But there it was, the real reason she was here and not sitting around a crappy table with her friends. She knew she wanted to talk to her parents about it, but it was still pretty hard to think about. Better now than never though.

Heaving a sigh, Marinette decided to come right out with it. “Well, things have not been going as great as I was hoping they would be,” She muttered. Her parents exchanged glances, and before they could butt in Marinette forged on. “The client I was working for pulled out, and its been a pretty big blow for me.”

Immediately her mother was there, wrapping Marinette in a hug. Her father was close behind. “Oh honey, that is really rough,” Sabine cooed. “Do you want to tell us what happened?” Marinette nodded and launched into the story behind it.

She had been commissioned to do a small line of children’s cloths for a local store, and she had been thrilled to do so. It was one of her first real paying jobs so far, much better than the simple commissions she had been doing since moving in. She had launched herself into the line with gusto, pulling later nights on top of classes in order to keep on pace for the deadline.

And then, a few weeks later, she had gotten a call that her line was being canceled. Turns out the store that had commissioned her had to pull out because it was not quite what they were looking for. It was well within the contract, and they had said that they would keep Marinette in mind for future designs.

She had been devastated.

This was the very first time Marinette had not lived up to the expectations of a person commissioning her. True, most of what she had done was small time work. But Gabriel had liked her designs before! Jagged stone was in her contacts because he loved what she had done in high school! These were big people. And because of how she felt, she had decided to keep the information from her friends. She trusted them, but this was something that had been eating away at her in the middle of the night and all of her free time. It was a heavy load to trust to another person, at it was with some reluctance that she even told her parents.

Tom even asked as much when she finished telling her story. “I am sure you could have talked to Alya, why didn’t you?”

Marinette was on the verge of answering when the doorbell rang. Getting up, Tom said, “hold that thought,” and went to answer. A moment later he poked his head in with a small smile on his face. “Your friends are here. Apparently they have been trying to text you but haven’t gotten an answer and were checking to see if you were here. Should I tell them you are?”

Looking over at her phone, Marinette cursed under her breath. She had turned it off when she got here, wanting to disconnect from the world while she was here. To be fair, she had slipped out of the apartment while Alya was over that the boy’s side, so her friends had no clue where she was.

As Marinette mulled her options, her mother leaned over and whispered, “Now might be a good time to talk to them. I am sure they will understand.”

Sighing, Marinette nodded to her father. Moments later her three friends poked their heads into the room and zeroed in on where she was sitting. “Oh my god girl!” Alya yelled as she rushed over. Sabine slyly got up and joined Tom in the other room as Marinette’s friends sat down on the couch around her. “Whats wrong, why did you ditch us with no notice?”

Deciding to get it over with, Marinette launched into the reason she was there. The failure, the shame, the frustration. She figured she might was well lay it all out there. Even the fear she had of opening up to her friends about something so personal. When she had finished, her head was leaning on Alya’s shoulder while she stoked Marinette’s hair. Adrien had laid his hand on her’s and Nino was rubbing her back. All in all it helped to release the stress of the whole situation as Marinette told it. When she was completely done she let out sigh and settled into the feeling of being surrounded.

There was a pause Alya said something first. “Jesus, that was a lot hun.” She said simply. She exchanged a glance with Adrien as she continued. “I thought something might be up with you, but I never thought it would be like this.”

“Still, its good that you trusted us enough to tell us all this,” Nino added from her other side.

Next to him Adrien nodded. “It can take a lot of strength to talk about your feelings.”

At the center of their group Marinette sniffled and brushed of cheek on Alya’s shoulder. “Thanks guys, it means a lot for you to be supportive,” She mumbled. All around her friends hummed themselves. She sighed and tried her best to snuggle up to all three of them at the same time, wishing the moment would last longer. “I really want to be as open with you guys as possible. You are my best friends after all,” She added.

“Hey, its hard to do sometimes dude,” Nino said. “I think the big thing to take away is that it is not a comment on how good you are as an artist. It just didn’t work out, and that happens all the time.”

Adrien nodded. “Def. Like, when my dad first started working he would get rejected all the time. It really took a solid line of work before he was able to take off like he did. Think about being the person who rejected Gabriel. I mean, this person is the one who is at a loss because they decided to let you go.”

“In the end we know what you are capable of, and we are proud of you no matter what,” Alya coo’ed next to her.

Marinette laughed a bit and brushed away at her eyes again. “Aw, all these nice things and you are going to really make me cry,” chuckled. “Now I don’t want to think about this any more. But…I also don’t want to leave.”

Nino’s eyes lit up. “Movie night?! Here?”

After a quick vote, the idea was met with enthusiastic support. After making sure it was okay with the parents, the four of them pilled onto the couch to settle in and watch some classics. As Marinette settled down surrounded by her best friends, she smiled to herself at how such a terrible day had turned because of them.

When Tom came down to check on the kids before going to bed, he was greeted with a slightly confusing sight. All of them were asleep, and they were all tangled up. Marinette was at the heart of it all, snoring the loudest. Adrien was leaned over, curled up on Marinette’s lap with an arm draped over Alya’s lap. Alya had her legs tangled in Marinette’s, her hand firmly rooted in Adrien’s hair, and was slouched behind Nino. Nino himself was pillowed up on Alya’s chest, somehow had his arm around Marinette’s shoulder, and was holding hands with Adrien.

All in all, an adorable mess. After making sure Sabine came down to see it, and taking a dozen pictures that were going to be preserved in a family photo album, the happy parents gently woke the children up. It took them a bit of groggy shuffling, but they surprising managed to untangle themselves quite easily. Maybe this was a common occurrence? The parents would as Marinette next time they saw her.

As they groggily made their way back home, Marinette found her hand held by Alya. Alya mumbled in her ear, “Please don’t run away again, you scared us,” as they made their way into their apartment. And Marinette made a mental note to never leave them out of the loop again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the various comments! I know it takes me (looks at watch) months to post chapters, but its always great to see what you have to say and all your kudos! Please feel free to find me on tumblr and message me about the story, even if its just for an update.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day in the life of Nino, as well as the rest of the quartet

Try as he might, Nino can’t quite get used to working from home.

For the past five months or so he has been doing freelance work from home. He had been very fortunate to have transitioned into the whole living on his own thing with a somewhat steady job to help him. In the last year of school he had been picking up gigs here and there, and was able to focus enough of making music now that he could make a semblance of living.

Of course, moving from gig to gig meant that his only real work place was the apartment. He had it all set up in his room, and frequently Adrien could hear strings of music wafting through the hall at all hours of the day. It was pleasant, getting to spend all day in your pajamas and only needing to be presentable when it was time to leave the house for supplies or a gig.

But with the absence of school in his everyday life, Nino spent most of him time indoors.

Today was no different. It was late when Nino got to wake up, and as he stretched and rubbed the sleep from his eyes he could hear that the apartment was empty. Sometimes if he woke up while Adrien was still here he could hear his friend humming from the living room. Not today though, it was a very quite morning today.

Nino glanced over at the clock and saw that it was almost 11 already. Looks like he did have some time before his first event of the day was scheduled, so he could take his time. So he lounged in his bed for a while before deciding he might as well take a shower before Alya came over.

As he grabbed his towel from where it hung over the door, he mulled over what they might have for lunch today. Alya had a lunch break from her work at the newspaper down the street every day at the same time, and almost every day she would come over to share the time with Nino. When she had proposed it, she had said, “This way you get some kind of motivation to get dressed at least.” He had laughed and shrugged it off a bit, but secretly he was glad she wanted to spend her time with him.

He was halfway through his shower when he heard a knock of the door. “Hurry up, I got fresh pot stickers and they are getting cold,” Alya yelled through the door.

“I don’t know Alya, Im feeling pretty good in this shower,” Nino yelled back. “I might decide to take my time and make you wait,” he said as he showered faster.

The potstickers were still warm when he emerged a moment later, towel around his waist and towel over his shoulder. Alya scrunched her nose as he sat down and pushed a plate over to him. “You’re still damp,” she grumbled.

Nino paused halfway through his first potsticker and toweled off a bit more. “That better?” He said, the words muffled by the sticker.

“I guess,” Alya sighed dramatically as she rolled her eyes for effect. Even if she tried, she could not hide the hint of the smile she had at his antics. “So how are the tracks going?” She prompted, popping another sticker in her mouth.

It took a few more bites before Nino answered. “Pretty well I think,” he said with more pep that he was feeling. “Im hoping that I can get some new mixes together before that gig in a couple days. Hopefully they sign me on for more shows. I could go for being the one to get lunch for once.”

Alya scoffed and waved him off. “Don’t worry about it dude, its my treat,” she said, then with a smirk she continued, “besides, how else would I woo you but through your stomach?”

At this Nino felt his heart skip a bit at the mention of wooing. He and Alya had been teetering on the edge of dating for years now. They would go on dates sometimes, but for some reason they never quite got to the next step and fell back into their old ways. Nino could not deny that he held a torch for Alya, and every time she joked about it he would start thinking about it again. But things were complicated enough as they were, with the whole living basically with each other already. He had not quite gotten to the point where he wanted to test the dating waters again.

So instead of saying something sly, something that might knock her off her feet, Nino shrugged and focused on his meal instead. “Speaking of wooing, how do you think its going between Adrien and Marinette?” he tried. Damn, really nailed it dude, he thought to himself glumly.

As pivots go, this was a pretty good one however. Any suspicion Alya might have had vanished as she rolled her eyes yet again and groaned dramatically. “Still nothing. They have been getting pretty chummy, but Marinette is worried that this whole ‘living next to each other’ business is just sparking old flames. I mean, how stupid of an excuse is that?”

Nino carefully nodded along, omitting that this was how he felt as well.

“Anyways, she says that she was over him and she is still over him and she wants to be friends. Which any sane person can see is bullshit.” She stopped dramatically and leveled her fork with Nino, her face serious. “The other day I caught them in the hall after working out basically implying they should have a contest at who has the better ass. And when I asked her about it after she brushed it off as ‘a friend thing’.”

“Jesus,” Nino whispered to himself, “this is worse than I thought. Because Adrien is acting the exact same freaking way.” He held up a hand and counted off fingers. “He commented on how lucky we are to have such hot friends. Asked me if it was weird that he wanted Marinette to bench press him. He does that thing where he tries to cuddle up to her during movies. Learned all her favorite recipes, ‘just in case’.” Nino shook his head in resignation. “I could go on, but I would run out of fingers.”

“Seriously” Alya muttered as she looked at her phone. “Looks like my lunch is over. Thanks for having lunch with me hun.”

Nino got up and gave her a hug before she left. “No problem babe, its always great getting lunch with a friend.”

————————

“Adrien, I am a fraud.”

Across the kitchen Adrien looked up from the pan of eggs he was making. “What is it this time? Alya?”

I think you fall into this category, Nino thought to himself as he tried not to look at his roommate too much.

The two of them were having dinner together tonight. The girls both had to work tonight, so it was just the two of them. Nino had set up his laptop at the dinner table and was trying out some new tunes. And Adrien….well Adrien was making dinner in nothing but a apron. Not even a fully body one, just a waist apron. Adrien only ever did this when he made dinner after working out and it was just the two of them. He claimed it was nicer to relax after a shower by putting off the whole cloths thing. And that when he lived at his father’s he could stay in the buff after showers most of the time.

Either way it always made Nino slightly hot and bothered, try as he might to avoid making the situation awkward between them.

Clearing his throat, he answered while keeping his eyes on his screen and not looking up at his roommates perfect pecs. “Yeah, once again it is Alya.”

Adrien chuckled and turned back to his work, leaving his amazing butt open for Nino to sneak a peak at. “I keep telling you, you just gotta ask her out.”

“And I keep telling you, that will only happen when you ask Marinette out.”

There was silence for a beat, then Adrien said “good point.”

“I don’t know man,” Nino sighed as he pulled up a new track. It was a filler for the middle of one of his gigs, but it worked well in the background. “I feel like we are closer than ever and on the verge of dating. But there is always something that is holding me back from asking her out.”

“What would this be, the fourth time you would have asked her out?” Adrien interjected.

Nino rolled his eyes. “Only the third. The last time was a year and a half ago. It was nice, but we both got super busy with school for some reason and never kept it up. And now we are adults with real adult things going on in our lives. I’m just not sure if it would work out.”

Adrien scooped some eggs onto plates already laden with potatoes and peppers. He brought them over and sat across from his friend. “Well I think you guys would be a great couple.” Adrien said. “I also think you are thinking a bit too hard about this one. Next time you see her you just need to take your shot and ask if she wants to go on a real date again.”

Instead of answering right away Nino dug into his dinner. “I guess that might work. Ill do it if it feels right,” he offered.

Across the table Adrien rolled his eyes. “Of course, if it feels right. By that metric you two will be dating in five years,” he snickered.

Nino felt that maybe it was time to divert the conversation now that he had tried to complain and got the same old answer. “So how are things going with Mari?” He offered innocently.

It was a pretty weak tactic, and Adrien was not swayed easily. He pointed his fork at Nino and instructed, “Just ask her out next time you have lunch. I know you can do it dude. And things are going well between us. Not much to report.”

Adrien may have thought his airy comment would be enough, but Nino wanted some retribution. He continued, “Yeah, I saw you flirting the other day in the hall after you were done with working out. Something about who would win in a wrestling contest?”

“Oh yeah man, she said something about how she could easily pin me,” Adrien huffed. “As if. I am sure if I could get her arms pinned down I could easily have…my way…with…” The realization dawned on him as he said it, and his face started flushing a deep red. Nino tried not to trace it as Adrien’s chest and shoulders started flushing. “Jesus. Is it that bad?” Adrien asked in disbelief. All Nino had to do was nod.

There was silence as Adrien visibly struggled to come to terms with the fact that he and Marinette had a very graphic conversation about dominating each other. Then, softly, he said, “Maybe I need to think about Marinette huh.”

Nino nodded again.

“Well, it looks like we might both have girl problems, eh?” Adrien chuckled as he continued to eat.

This time Nino said, “tell me about it. Really, I don’t know why you haven’t asked her out yet. She is like, an amazing person. Great personality, just as physical as you, really cute. Honestly you would make a really hot couple.” He tried not to think about all the times he had thought about how hot they would be together. Which was too often.

“Hey, don’t discount you and Alya,” Adrien shot back. “You two are dynamite together. Great at talking things out with each other, making sure the other person is taken care of, and don’t discount your own hotness. Like, you and Alya are smoking, apart and together.”

Nino chuckled to hide the growing heat from his literal model roommate calling him, quote, smoking. “Well thank you. Looks like we both might have our work cut out for us.” He started to gather up the dishes off the table. “How about I get these cleaned up so you can get ready for tonight. You are coming to the dance, right?” Nino asked.

Adrien got up and stretched, his lean body on full display. Nino turned his head quickly so he would not run into a wall from staring. “Yeah man, of course! I would not miss this gig for anything,” Adrien happily replied.

“Alright, then get moving! We gotta if we are going to get there on time for me to set up,” Nino instructed as he turned the water on. He snuck one last glance behind him as Adrien walked down the hall to his room. Right before he reached the door, Adrien started to untie the back of apron. Nino turned back to his task beat red.

—————

Nino was setting up his equipment when Marinette first came to him. 

It was a medium sized venue, a bar off to one side and a dance floor in front of a slightly raised DJ stand. The security was pretty light, and they had gotten there early for Nino to set up, so anyone could come up behind the stand with him.

Marinette came up with a fruity looking drink in one hand and a cup of Guinness in the other. “I have a drink for you, complement of the lady at the bar,” She said cheekily as she set down the Guinness for him. Nino looked across the room to where Adrien and Alya were leaning against the bar, drinks in hand and half gone. Alya waved cheerily at him, and he smiled and waved back.

“Well thank you,” Nino said with a smile. “When you go back, mind giving her my regards?”

Next to him Marinette leaned against the table and took a sip of her own drink. With a smug smile Marinette replied, “I think I can do that. After all, it’s a pleasure getting to talk to a lady as pretty as her, right?”

Under his breath Nino chuckled. “I have to agree with you on that one,” he muttered. Then looking up he quirked an eyebrow. “What about the handsome gentleman next to her? Did he have anything to say.”

Marinette thought for a moment before a smile broke out on her face. “Oh, thats right. The handsome gentleman, as you put it, said to break a leg up here and look fabulous while doing it.” Her smile turned to a smirk as she added, “I happen to agree with him.”

Nino continued to fiddle with the knobs on his sound board. “It should like I must have some admires in the house tonight,” He says smoother than he feels. His heart has definitely started to speed up at the thought of all three of his best friends hitting on him.

“I would say so,” Marinette mused as she continued taking her drink down at a quick pace. Nino glanced over as she drank half the drink in one sip.

“Whoa there, I can only get you one free drink you know,” Nino pointed out with a laugh.

She tried to shrug it off. “Just feeling in the mood tonight,” Marinette says with an air of forced calm. As she takes another sip Nino notices the jitters starting to show. Her legs are starting to shift back and forth, and there is a definite flush raising on her cheeks. Her eyes keep glancing between him and the bar where their friends as sitting.

For a moment Nino pauses and turns to her. “I know its not just that, anything you want to share?”

The question only sparks a deeper blush as Marinette finishes her drink. She gives him a giddy giggle and places a fluttery hand on his shoulder as if to steady herself. “Im just ready to spend so quality time with friends!” She says cheerily. “Friends I may or may not have crushes on,” She continues. “Oh god, I’m not ready for tonight,” She crumbles.

Her head hangs for a moment before she feels a warm hand on her’s. “When she looks up again Nino is smiling kindly. “Don’t worry Marinette, I think I know what you mean,” He says with a sparkle in his eyes. “Listen, if things get to be too much you are free to come up here and cool off with me.”

The reassurance seems to help, and the familiar smile that Nino has grown to love over the last few months returns to Marinette’s face. She squeezes his shoulder and says, “thanks Nino, you always know what to say to make things better.” Slowly, she withdraws her hand. Glancing between her empty glass and the bar where Adrien and Alya were laughing, she nodded to herself. Giving him one last smile, she says, “I’ll come up here to check on you later DJ.” And then she is off.

Nino has to admit that he loves to watch her walk away, but hates when she is gone. Sighing to himself and ignoring the feeling bubbling inside himself, he takes a sip of his drink and goes back to setting up.

The crowd is thick that night. Nino is almost proud as more and more people pour onto the dance floor and throw themselves into the music that he is playing. His friends are some of the first to make their way onto the floor, and he watches them through the night, wishing he was with them. 

The way that Alya and Marinette twine together and dace face to face, smirks dancing across their features. When Marinette and Adrien dance, wanting to be close but unsure, their hands and movements ghosting over each other and just out of reach. How Adrien and Alya throw caution to the wind and have their hands all over each other, bodies grinding together. And when he three of them circle each other, laughter and smiles mixing with their intoxicating moves as they revel in being with each other.

Nino feels his heart ache for his friends, his amazing friends who he can only touch with his music right now. So he resolves to give them the best beats, the funkiest and sexiest music to jive to.

His set is coming to a close when Marinette makes her way up to his spot. He almost feels her before he sees her. A hand ghosting on his shoulder as she raises herself up to the spot behind him. The breath she lets out as she laughs. Nino glances over and feels his hands stutter at what they are doing. Marinette is very tipsy right now, and he can tell she has leaned into it fully.

Sultry eyes look at him above a lazy, relaxed smile. Her hair is ruffled and has a wild look to it. The top she is wearing looks much smaller than he thought it was before, her skin shimmering with sweat. Her perfect abs are on display as she laughs, and Nino has a hard time tearing his eyes away. She reaches down, her hand gliding down her amazing long legs and pick at the shorter heels she is wearing. With a bit of struggling she pulls them off and breaths a sigh of relief.

Nino forces his gaze back to his work and not his smoking hot friend. Or one of them at least. He feels her slide up behind him and surprises a shudder. Her slender arms wrap around his chest loosely and her breath ghosts his ear as she stands on her tip toes. “Hows my perfect DJ doing up here?” She yells over the sound.

He turns slightly to shout back. “I’m doing great, but I don’t know if they will let you dance without shoes on.”

The response he gets is a loud laugh. “I’m not worried silly, I got two strong men to protect me.”

“How much have you had to drink Marinette?” He asks back, glancing over his shoulder to see her grinning eyes. 

Her hands leave his chest and count fingers. “Only this much mom,” She giggles, holding up four fingers. “They weren’t even that strong, Truuuust me.”

Nino smiles and shakes his head. He slides over a bit and nudges Marinette next to him. She let one arm leave his body while the other slides down to his waist, a finger sliding into a belt loop of his jeans. “Your music is what is really intoxicating,” She purrs.

They stand like that as Nino finishes a song and moves into his last portion. Marinette places a hand on his shoulder and pulls him down slightly. As he dips down, he feels her stand on her tip toes to mutter into his ear again. “Have you been watching our roommates dancing?” 

He glances out at the floor again to where they are. Adrien and Alya are tied together. Their is an intensity in their eyes, a cheeky smile on both their lips as they slide and dance together. “All of you have been dancing great tonight, I’ve been watching,” Nino admits.

There is a chuckle in his ear, and then another hot breath. “I love that you were watching me, but look at them,” She says with a breathy sigh. Nino does not think he has ever heard Marinette say something in a breathy voice. “God, it was all I could do to tear myself away and come back to see their gorgeous bodies dancing like that.”

Nino shot her a questioning look as he started to climb to the beat drop. But Marinette was gazing out at the floor again, her eyes hungry and wanting as she watched her friends. “God, its so primal. I want to, I don’t even know Nino, I want to slot myself between them and never be let go.”

“I know that feeling,” Nino breaths out as he turns his attention back to the floor. The dials move under skilled hands almost on their own as he watches. Alya has her back to Adrien, smirking over her shoulder as she rolls her amazing body against his. Adrien’s hands are placed firmly on her hips, guiding her as he smiled right back.

“Right?” Marinette mutters, again her hot breath ghosting his ear. “Think about how lucky we are Nino to watch. Our friends, our HOT friends, dancing for us.” He can almost sense the smirk. “They are dancing for you.”

“What?” Nino asks, his voice both hushed and higher than normal.

“They are dancing to your sound. The way the beat carries them, the music that they are so in tune comes from your talented fingers.” The beat was still building, and it was all Nino could do to keep track of it as Marinette continued. “Our best friends know how good you are, and are putting on a show because of it.”

“I, um, I thought you, that you and…and Adrien…Alya…uh” Nino stutters out, trying to figure out the various thoughts whizzing in his head as the song started to reach its climax.

A light chuckle comes from next to him. “Oh Nino, I think we can all read the signs,” She says in a low teasing voice. “I can see that you are into them. Both of them. Just like I am.” Nino sharply glances over as the beat reached it’s height. A mistake.

Marinette looks up at him through her lashes as she bites her lip. “And I think I might be into you too.”

The beat drops.

Nino thanks his lucky stars in the back of his mind that this is mostly set up as he stares dumbfounded at the woman next to him. She continues to bite her lip, worrying it between her teeth, before shaking her head and giving him a bright smile. “Nows not the time to be zoning out darling,” She says breezily and directs his attention back to his music. The move jumpstarts the flustered man, and he dives back into his music. After a moment, the hand leaves his hip and slides up his back. He is about to look over when Marinette gives his a light kiss on the cheek. “Lets talk after this set,” She mutters before withdrawing completely.

Nino continues the song in almost a trance. He looks out at the crowd dazed to see that Marinette has joined Adrien and Alya again. They welcome her, and the three of them start their dance again. He sees Marinette whisper something to them, and as if on cue they both look up at Nino. He can’t help but gulp at the attention. His face heats up even more as Alya smirks up at him as she takes Marinette into her arms and Adrien blows him a cheeky kiss, his arms wrapped around Alya still.

Nino did not think that his crushes could ruin him so thoroughly, but they were doing a hell of a job now. Flustered, he focused back on his music. Only a couple songs to go and he could finally go to them. His thoughts swirled about what that could mean, but he resolved to cross that bridge when he got to it. In the mean time, he had some people to preform for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeyyyy, sorry for taking so long! I hope that this chapter helps to make up for it. I know that this kinda ends on a cliff, but next chapter should resolve it! Once again thank you for reading and sticking with me, and I hope to see you again soon!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so this is my first time making a ML fic. I have thought long and hard about this idea, and decided to try my hand at making it real! Any kind of feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading!


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